The imagery is still striking, after all these years. Don’t you think? So much so, I am surprised that lots of alcohol beverage companies have not used this image in the past. It is also surprising that there is no TTB or other prohibition on the use of this famous image. The Library of Congress explains that the poster goes all the way back to 1916 and may be the most famous poster in the world. (More famous than Farrah?) It was used to recruit soldiers for World War I and World War II. The original poster shows “Uncle Sam,” the “national personification of the United States and sometimes more specifically of the United States government.” The wine is produced by Oreana Wine Company in Santa Barbara, California. For another, almost as famous poster used to support World War II, Rosie the Riveter is here (now in support of Oregon Dry Rosé).
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Beer & Bowling Like Astaire & Rogers
It must be bowling season because these two beers went to TTB one day apart, in January of 2009. We liked the graphics on the the Nefarious Ten Pin Porter. It is made by Ska Brewing Company of Durango, Colorado. Ska has a good looking website but it doesn’t explain the brand name here. The Icehouse Beer is made by MillerCoors at breweries around the US.
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Boarding Pass and Grateful Palate Wines
We thought this was a good example of unusual label design, and so did Mike Carter. Mike probably knows quite a bit more about art and design, compared to us, but then again we’ve looked at as many wine labels as anyone. Who is Mike Carter?
For more than a decade Mike has been helping wine companies reduce their print & packaging costs and improve supply chain efficiency. Mike is also a published author with articles published on wine.co.za, Practical Winery & Vineyard and WineLand magazines. Mike earned his MBA at Bond University and lives in Somerset West, South Africa.
His blog covers wine label design, very well. We also wanted to mention the above label because The Grateful Palate seems to have a propensity to find uncommon labels. We have showed their Punk and Evil wine labels in the past.
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This Design Lingers
We have giant stacks of shocking and outrageous labels, and yet we keep coming back to this one. It is simple, calm, soothing, and far from outrageous. We are no experts in graphics or design, but we think this is probably the result of superior design. For the best in consumer products design and packaging, we defer to The Dieline; they do a great job covering beer, wine and spirits design issues. Another tremendous source of information about wine label design is Mike Carter’s Serious About Wine. We wonder if Mike, or The Dieline, or anyone else out there can help us narrow down who are the best alcohol beverage label designers around these days. As the back label says, “it lingers.”
Continue Reading Leave a CommentWater 2 Wine
Water 2 Wine caught our eye. Because there are an enormous number of label approvals. Water 2 Wine has more than 1,500 label approvals since 2004. Why so many? It turns out that Water 2 Wine runs franchised mini-wineries in nine cities around Texas, with one in California and one more in Colorado. The website explains:
Water 2 Wine is the Ultimate Wine Experience! Juice (or “must”), is made available from more than 100 vineyards in 12 countries, and is made into wine in our custom winery! The wine is sold by the glass, by the bottle and by the batch (approx. 28-30 bottles). Wine sold by the batch is made by customers, who return about 45 days later to bottle, cork, and custom label their wine with a label we help them create! All wines contain only minimal amounts of sulfites and no histamines and are available for tasting before purchasing.
It further explains the business and legal side:
Continue Reading Leave a CommentThe Franchise Fee for your first Water 2 Wine will be $35,000. This fee is part of the total initial investment and includes up to 3 weeks training at the franchise training center in Austin, TX. … There is a mandatory $5,000 Licensing Assistance Fee. The path to Federal and State licensing can...
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Simple Beer
If you spend any time at all on this blog, or at the liquor store, we think you will have no trouble finding plenty of ornately packaged beverages. In glaring contrast, there are the products above. They are a marvel of minimalism. No art. No UPC. No singing the praises of the beer’s astonishing finish. These labels have only what TTB requires, and barely that. Simple labels like this may be about to go the way of the horse and buggy. Sooner or later, TTB is likely to approximately double the number of elements required on a label like this. In addition to Warning, type, brand, bottler, and net contents (as above), TTB is gearing up to require alcohol content, typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat and allergens. Enjoy the simple things, while you can. Malt Beverage and Beer are produced by The Beer Factory of Copley, Ohio.
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