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Beer label for Deschutes Brewery

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
This is an illustration I did for a label for "the dissident" a new beer from Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon.   The beer took about a year to brew and I finally got a bottle this week.   I hadn't done a beer label before so it was fun to work on this new format.   Audelino Moreno was the art director on the project. 
There is an article about the brew HERE at Beer Advocate:
"To give The Dissident its characteristic sour taste, the brewery used a wild yeast strain called Brettanomyces (also known as Brett) during fermentation. Known throughout the wine world for creating earthy undertones found in many European wines, Brett is used in the beer fermentation process to create strong flavors typically associated with Belgian beers. Unlike English varieties that use traditional inoculated yeasts in the fermentation process, beers made with Brett take much longer to ferment and require additional barrel finishing time to balance the sour flavoring. In The Dissident's case, this meant aging a portion of it in Pinot noir and Cabernet barrels for more than three months. Another key flavor component comes from the Central Washington cherries that were added 12 months ago.
     Due to the wild yeast, The Dissident required special treatment and was held in isolation under lock and key apart from the rest of the brewery's beers to avoid any cross-contamination. A secondary bottling line was also brought in from an outside contractor to facilitate The Dissident's bottling and ensure the beer and wild yeast never touched the brewery's machinery.
     With a beer this wild and truly unique, Deschutes needed a special label to alert consumers to what lay inside. The resulting image immediately sets The Dissident apart from the other Deschutes Brewery beers, even the Reserve Series beers.
     A very limited amount of The Dissident will be available at the end of August as part of the brewery's Reserve Series in hand-waxed 22-ounce bottles and on draft at select establishments. MSRP for a 22-ounce bottle is $9.99."
The top of the beer has this dripped wax element, which gives the package a nice look.  It's a Flanders style brown ale.
These are some drawings I did of crows while sketching ideas for the label.
Click HERE to go to the Deschutes website for more info.
© 2024 Edel Rodriguez