Unfiltered
Artisan beer brewed with passion. Made in Catalonia.
By Vasco Valentim
Creative at VBAT
Last weekend I went on a road trip through the Catalonia countryside. Into the wild to explore the little pueblos around Barcelona and Girona. It was brilliant — beautiful landscapes all the way along the road, always overlooking the sea.
One sunny and glorious afternoon we ended up at a bar, quirky and quite typical, in which they claimed to have more than 50 truly Catalonia craft beers. Suddenly, this became some kind of a mission — learn and try to taste as many as possible! Some of them were local. And I mean really local, with literally no visible branding on them. We could even say these were actual craft beers. That word, that became to mean so much and so little in these past few years.
I remember once in San Francisco, years ago, I went to this bar with a friend of mine, late at night, they had Pumpkin beer on tap. What?! Yes, Pumpkin beer. I was blown away! They told me it was brewed just downstairs, in their basement — now, that was something! Nowadays, it seems that pumpkin beer is not as weird or exquisite any more.
Millennials are having a huge influence on the ever rise of Crafts. It’s not only a trend now, it’s much more than that. Mainstream brands across the globe are now investing millions studying what can be done to enrich their portfolios with craft oriented beers.
The general Pilsener and fruit-based Radlers are losing market share every year to more honest, fair trade brewed beers. Locally brewed, some even with organic ingredients, these are often more straight forward thinking brands, much more appealing to a younger generation, aware of important issues such as sustainability and social and economical responsibility. As it turns out, Millennials aren’t drinking what their parents were. Young drinkers are quickly abandoning the major domestic standbys for import and craft beer.
Craft beer is, officially speaking, beer from brewers shipping six million barrels or fewer a year, and unofficially speaking, beer that actually has flavour.
So, there we were, looking at all those labels and names indecisive on which ones to order first. There were some with really extravagant designs and psychedelic colours, and others much more low key and graphically humble. Don’t judge a book by its cover, so they say. Or do judge it! That actually turned out to be my criteria, to some extent of success. At least at first.
Big Bear got my attention. Funny and provocative, this Pale Ale is part of the Barcelona Beer Company portfolio. The beer itself is not extraordinary but totally lived up to what was promised to us on that cover. Enjoyable and refreshing, with some unexpected flavour notes. The fantastic Brosmind are the authors of the design — two brothers with a passion for cartoons and old video games, illustrate a portrait of Frank, the Bear!
Barcelona Beer Company (BBC) is a platform where brewers invite illustrators and designers (normally local) to create the visual identity for their new products.
Also from BBC, the Beercelona (an American Pale Ale) has become a benchmark on its own right, not only by somehow rebranding the city of Barcelona, but also in terms of how daring and inspiring beer packaging can truly be. Beercelona Beer represents a life-style. Its trademark design is by the local typographic hero Alex Trochut.
I kept my focus as much as possible, now following with Bripau’s Rusca — an organic Honey Pale Ale with locally produced honey from Montseny. With an herbal taste and nose, this is a surprising one! After a couple of sips, the taste kind of bursts in your mouth, just like depicted in the purple and yellow graphic label. Bripau is a microbrewery born on a land of wine, in the county of Alt Penedès. It uses its natural resources to create something fresh and unique. They are irreverent and loud on their graphic approach, making this a very genuine brand, with a real Catalan look and feel to it.
Next, to something completely different: on my list was Moreneta, a Belgian style craft beer, from Barna Brew. I really love the simple use of elements in this label. Sharp and mysterious, made me want to know more about it. The brewery started after the founders went on a trip to Belgium from Barcelona. They currently brew it in 3 different varieties (Rubia, Blanche and Brune), just like a trappist beer.
To wrap up the tasting session I went for Vallenato Coffee Porter, from La Pirata.
Strong and imponent, this beer brings to your palette bold and sweet notes in a wide variety. The naïve visuals on the label transports you to tropical and African lands, enriching this exotic experience. La Pirata has several exquisite crafts under their belt, all of which were magnificently illustrated by Negrescolor, a very versatile artist based here in Barcelona.
What’s really interesting with craft beer label design is that it reflects the personality of the beer itself, its actual character (well, at least the good ones), more than any other mainstream beer brand, in which its visual identities are often loaded with cues and graphic elements related to the beer world that are much more general and impersonal somehow. So the artisan aspect of the beer comes back to the labels — its language, personality and tone of voice in a greater variety of shapes, intensities and flavours.
So, as trendy as it may seem, it won’t take much longer for mainstream brands to launch their own craft beers into their already so vast range of products. The possibilities are endless and the market is immense.
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written by Vasco Valentim
Creative at VBAT
edited by Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT
