Philly Beer Week Shirts, Beck's Local Artists, and Chaka Can

Beerfriends, I apologize for the month-long absence. Shouldn't happen again.


A few notes for now, then a full post later this week on Weyerbacher's new art.


Annual Philly Beer Week shirt design by Brad Hosbach

Ben Franklin, Beer Hunter

It's a pretty intense Ben Franklin, armed with the Hammer of the Gods and a six-pack of Victory Prima Pils. Hosbach on the design:

The design was inspired by the street art of GET UP.  I will also be doing the official beer week shirts so look out for them as well.

Who is GET UP, you ask? He's a street artist (like Banksy of Exit Through the Gift Shop). His boombox-wielding Franklin:

You can buy the shirts here.

Chicago artist Willy Chyr designs Beck's label

German brewer Beck's is rolling out a series of six labels designed by artists. There was one that caught my eye, by Chicago's Willy Chyr:

Chyr's inspiration for the piece, which he named "A Glimpse of Something Ephemeral," was the microscopic photos you might see in "middle-school textbooks," with a twist: "I wanted it to look like that at first," he said. "But when you look closer, you say, 'Wait a minute. This is made out of balloons." (RedEye Chicago)

Sun King and Oskar Blues team up to put craft beer in a resealable can


Sun King, the highly regarded canning brewer out of Indiana, and Oskar Blues, the great and groundbreaking canning brewer out of Colorado most famous for Dale's Pale Ale, unveiled a resealable can this weekend at the Craft Brewers Conference. The beer, Chaka, comes in a strange but interesting two-color design:

Aside from the pun, I'm not sure how different this is from the Miller Light resealable can-bottle thing. I believe it's the same manufacturer. So new to craft beer, maybe, but not new to beer. I wonder how viable this vessel is long-term in craft beer.

The annual Sixpoint "Beer is Culture" is up and running on Facebook. You can go and vote by liking images. They're down to the final six, but many are worth checking out. My favorite:

Kevin Romero's timeline piece

Lastly, I wanted to draw attention to Victory Brewing Company, who is using QR codes in a new way. To promote their Summer Love beer, they've announced a contest that drinkers enter by scanning QR codes from posters like this one: