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The 2011 Imperial Rhino Stout Label |
I’ve gotten a few requests to take about the labels I’ve
created for my beers and the process for which I create them.
This isn’t going to be a step by step guide to label
creation but it will include some insight on how I put together my most recent
label for Imperial Rhino Stout 2011.
To start off with let me give you a little background into
how I got started creating unique labels for my beers. Really it all comes down to Brew Bakers
again. As I was brewing up that first
batch of I noticed all the custom labels suck to the walls. Essentially all you
have to do is email them the image you want and they’ll print up some labels on
Avery shipping labels.
For the first two labels I actually created them with MS
Paint and MS PowerPoint (I’m a PowerPoint wizard at work) but after that I felt
both programs weren’t letting me do what I wanted. To make my labels today I use a combination
of two open source image editors; Paint.NET which is an open source photoshop
with lots of plug-ins and Inkscape which is an open source illustrator
program. Once I’m done I print on two
sizes of Avery shipping labels 5168 and 5164.
Generally I break my labels down into 4 categories
- Custom to the Beer 4.0 x 3.33 or 3.33 x 4.0
- 5 Minute or Standard Label 4.0 x 3.3
- Big Beer Labels 5.0 x 3.5
- Story Labels 3.5 x 5.0
5 Minute or Standard Labels
For awhile every label I did was different, the only thing
they had in common where the SNB logo and a series of easter eggs hidden in all
of my labels. Sometimes I was less then
inspired to create a new label nor did I always have the time needed to create
a new label. That’s when I got the idea
to create a quick label that I would only need to name and change the background
on. I called it my 5 minute label as
that’s all it took to do. I have three
versions of this; a dark beer, a light beer and one with a picture holder.
Big Beer Labels
It’s almost poetic that this post covers the current version
of Imperial Rhino Stout label as the label I made last year for it can really
be thought of as the prototype for what I refer to as my Big Beer label. When I completed the label last year I sat
back and was really pleased with it, it was clean, simple and looked pretty
damn good. I quickly decided that this
would be the basis for all of my beers above 7% abv.
Story Labels
When I set out to create a label for my share of the Brewcommune
club barrel brew I became inspired by the label for one of my favorite beers,
Great Divide Yeti. I decided a label
like that could be the perfect fit for what I wanted to do, on one side of the
main label I could talk about the background behind the beer and on the other I
could give some brief info on SNB Brewing and Brewcommune. The finished label came out great (and won an
editor’s choice in the 2011 BYO Label Contest) and just like with the 2010
version of the Imperial Rhino Stout I knew this was a format to move forward with. I like the ability to give a little info on
how the beer came to be and it works great for collaborations.
Imperial Rhino Stout 2011
With the label background out of the way let’s dive into the
label for Imperial Rhino Stout 2011.
With the beer sitting in a keg being carbonated I knew it
was time to get the label taken care of.
I’ve really been enjoying the story labels I’ve been doing so I decided to
use that format and adapt the old label to the new format.
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For Reference |
The first thing I did was pulled up two files, last year’s
label and the Strauss IPL label and merged them together so both labels were in
the same file and saved. After that I
started deleting and merging certain elements from each of them. From the IPL I used the the format, about SNB
text and circle. From IRS I grabbed the
rhino (with hat) and color scheme.
The hat that the rhino is wearing is the same hat the Stone Gargoyle wears only greatly manipulated to which I then added the crest I found on another image. The way the hat fits on the rhino's head is actually a nice little trick done with layering.
Once I had a general mock up I started filling in other
details like the brewstats, bar code (which is the brew date), the other rhino
and my sig.
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Initial Mock Up |
Next came a quick text mock up. I must have been channeling Greg Koch as it
was way too long and in need of serious cutting. Here is the original text –
Imperial Rhino Stout 2011 marks the
second release of a big, thick, dark, creamy imperial style stout from SNB
Brewing.
Over the last few years I’ve grown
a strong fondness for big dark imperial stouts. I love a nice heavy mouthfeel that is
incredible silky with the roast in bitterness in balance.
Back in 2010 I brewed my first “imperial
stout” which happened to be the 6th beer I ever brewed (it was named after the 2nd
one Rhino Stout which was an oatmeal stout). It took over 6 months to complete
and I was pleasantly surprised by how it came out. I knew I had to do it again
in 2011.
When I set out to create the 2011 version
I decided to evoke the original Rhino Stout by making it an imperial oatmeal
stout. It is also an homage to two of my
favorites in the style Surly Darkness 09 and Founders Breakfast Stout.
The Darkness thread will come from
the selection of hops (Columbus and Simcoe) used where as the FBS will contribute
its coffee aroma and flavor. For the coffee
notes I used two cold brew extracts (Whole Foods Extra Dark French Roast and Red
Sea), one at flameout and the other at kegging.
I ended up cutting paragraph 2 and 3 while slightly changing
the wording on what I kept. The final
wording is as follows –
Imperial Rhino Stout 2011 marks the
second release of a big, thick, dark, creamy imperial style stout from SNB
Brewing.
When I set out to create the 2011
version of Imperial Rhino Stout I decided to evoke the original Rhino Stout by
making it an imperial oatmeal stout. It
is also an homage to two of my favorites in the style Surly Darkness 09 and Founders
Breakfast Stout.
The Darkness thread will come from
the selection of hops (Columbus and Simcoe) used where as the FBS will contribute
its coffee aroma and flavor. For the coffee notes I used two cold brew extractions
(Whole Foods Extra Dark French Roast and Red Sea), one at flameout and the
other at kegging.
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Final Mock Up |
Next came the fun part, breaking up every line of text so
that I could manipulate them individually.
I’m doing this because I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get
the text to justify. I then I built some blocking boxes to adjust
and center the logo. Finally finishing by texturing the hat.
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The Old Final Label |
Update 8-Dec-11: Since I did this post I've ditched the barcode and in it's place put a
QR code (abbreviated from
Quick Response code) with a link to the main recipe page on the site. I generate the QR code using
Google URL shorter then adding a .qr to the end of the created link (I.E
goo.gl/aEmCZ becomes
goo.gl/aEmCZ.qr)
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The Current Final Label with QR code |
Cheers
-SNB