Local Artists - Local Art! Let us reveal....Plan D.I.A.B.O.L.I.C.A.L.!
Dastardly Art Initiative Because Outlandish Ludicrous Imagery Conscripts Artistic Limitations (D.I.A.B.O.L.I.C.A.L.)
Below is the first of our seasonal beer labels. This and each forthcoming seasonal beer release will feature art by a different local artist. An amount of the proceeds from each can sold will go directly to the artist. As an artist of sorts myself, I've always been a supporter of art, so I'm super excited to start this project. I've got the next two artists already lined up for our next two beers. More details will be forthcoming as we develop new beers and recruit more artists. If you are an artist, or know one who might be interested, have them drop me a line.
Global Domination through better Art! Brew-hoo-haa-haa!!!!
Here is the second of our seasonal beer series - featuring local art and artists.
The Evil Dr.Franc-N-Blanc - French Blanch/Witbier
Created by Bill Hrenchuk
As my next seasonal we decided to make a wheat beer. But not just any wheat beer, we wanted a European inspired Wit, something that made use of traditional ingredients like coriander and bitter orange peel. Witbier is a classic, it is easy to drink and very refreshing, and there are bunch of them out there, so beer lovers will know what it is. It's a great beer anytime, but to me it says find a patio in the sun and enjoy the day.
Our prototype turned out to be fantastically quaffable, so we were happy with our creation. This is definitely a beer we could go to market with. I think once the tap room opens that this beer, or some variant of it, will find itself on our taps quite regularly.
Now do we market it as a White Ale, a Witbier, or a French Blanche. The French version kind of stuck in my mind for a few days. I tossed a few names around, kept coming back to Franc, Franc-enstein, or something Franc-y. And then since it was a Wit, White beer, it would be a beer Blanc, and the two words just combined into Franc N Blanc. Sounds like Frankenstein right? So it became the Evil Doctor Fran-N-Blanc.
So with this concept I approached my friend Bill Hrenchuk. He created a logo for my other business - GameKnight, as well as did a lot of mural work for me. I have some of his quirky pen drawing featuring dragons and goblins hanging up around my shop. I like his work, so I asked him if he could come up with a "Mad Doctor" character. Bill does awesome line drawings, in both pencil as well as pen and ink. I knew his art style would look great on a can, very unique and different from what I see out there. A few sketches later we had our character - The Evil Doctor Franc-N-Blanc!
Bill Hrenchuk is an entirely self trained Manitoba Artist. He is an avid fan of Dungeons & Dragons, a game he started playing over 40 years ago. He started drawing pen and ink drawings of "Flint & Steel", two characters of his own design. These were picked up and published by Dragon Magazine between 1995 and 1998. This iconic D&D focused publication was widely distributed all over North America, particularly in hobby and fantasy based gaming stores. In addition to this he has created many tattoo designs (inked by other tattoo artists) and realistic pencil drawing of household pets. Medieval Fantasy remains his favourite subject matter, and thus his mural company is aptly named - Medieval Murals!
Check out more of Bill's art on Instagram Here!
Here are some pictures of the art that inspired this label, and some preliminary concept sketches. It really is an interesting process to take the idea from a name to a finished label.
The first of our seasonal beer series - featuring local art and artists.
Planet Smasher - Pale Ale
Created by Delilah Tackaberry
The can art was done by my 17 year old daughter Delilah Tackaberry. I gave her a bad pencil sketch I had drawn and this was the result. She likes to work with digital art, and spends many of her off school hours designing comic book characters. She has a flair for art done in the anime style. Her future plans might be to study art at the local college, do some freelance work, or become a tattoo artist. Her work her shows a flair for colour and bold striking lines in her design. We love it! It is a big departure from our core beer can designs.
We decided to start our series off with a pretty basic style - American Pale Ale. To make it more interesting, we decided to make it a S.M.A.S.H. brew (Single Malt And Single Hop). This is where the beer is made with only one grain, instead of a blend of malts, and only one style of hop instead of a blend of hops, which acts to provide the aroma, flavour and bitterness through different stages of additions. So Jacob got to work on recipes and I got to work on names, listings, etc...
So I had come up with two working names, and a bunch of other bad ideas. In discussions about the recipe, 4 hops came up a possible candidates for this beer. One of them was Comet! Since Planet Smasher was already 1 of two different names I had picked - it seemed to be the perfect fit. After all, comets smash planets! And it stands to reason that our spokesvillain, one Dr. P. D. McDastardly, would devise a devious plan threateningto pull a comet off course and smash the planet with it unless his outrageous ransom demands were met!
Plus, at the time we were planning all this evil, NASA had directed their D.A.R.T. satellite into a comet to see if the mass of the collision could deviate the comet's trajectory. Well they successfully did it, and in so doing dashed the plans of our heinous spokesvillain, Dr. P. D. McDastardly!
Want Art?
Brew-hoo-haa-haa!!!!
Oh, we'll bring you art! There will be more to see here as we commission more art to decorate our decidedly delicious brews!
Are you an artist with an interest in having your art on one of our cans? Reach out to us and let us know. We're primarily looking for a variety of art, in any kind of style. Our themes are SteamPunk, Global Domination, Evil, Villains, Crazy Inventions, Mad Science, and Weapons of Mass Destruction!