More Excellent History-Tinged Work Cigar City

Okay folks, we're back. Best friend is married, grandfather is buried (unveiled, actually, but I went for the rhyme).

And it's time to get back to the delicious beer art. And since it's fall, time for more of the sepia-toned, history-steeped work from Cigar City. All three of these labels focus on the Cuban heritage of Tampa's population and historic Ybor City.

Jose Marti was a Cuban intellectual and writer. This label is simple, just a picture in black and white with the stained sepia backdrop. The things that make it just a little better than normal are the details: the slight tilt of his head to our left while his tie and body are angled straight-right and the use of Marti's quotes to take up the space around his head and the panel to the left of the frame. A little strange that it's an American Porter, but Marti did spend a few years in the States gathering support for Cuban independence.

The next label is the Bolita, which is the name of a type of lottery that came from Cuba to Tampa.

The man is Charlie Wall, the mobster who was considered the king of the underground game in the Latin saloons. The portrait is nicely old-timey, and the use of the hand-numbered lottery balls on the faded brown backdrop gives a nice sense of movement and asymmetry.

The last label doesn't honor a person so much as a type of beverage:

The Cubano-Style Espresso is a brown ale brewed with Espresso beans. The label art isn't ambitious, but it's successful because, like the Bolito and Marti works, it doesn't shy away from asymmetry. The coffee urn pours from off the main panel on the left, and with the text draws the eye to the right across the label. The fading of the coffee bean background and the white banner framing the coffee mug on the bottom add just enough dimensionality to keep the image interesting.

Some notes and links to read:

• The immortal Ashley Routson aka The Beer Wench has a well-deserved gag reflex at some of the most uninventive and exploitative advertising for beer I've ever seen.
• Box Vox takes a look at the old Storck Beer label.
• For those of you thinking of going to the Million Moderate March, there's a beer event the night before at the Brickskellar.
• Stephen Beaumont on the stupid things people say in response to alcohol advertising.
• SABMiller has put out one of the first concept breweries, this one an idea for a floating brewery that might be necessary if something close to the apocalypse happens. Good to know that, in a Fallout situation, we could still live the High Life.
• Jay Brooks looks at a great piece by American painter Tompkins H. Matteson and Canadian artist Rufus' "Northern Breweries"

• TheFullPint.com takes a look at the redone Gordon can by Oskar Blues. As they mention, the "Imperial IPA" was never accurate; the Imperial Red style fits better.