THE FINE PINT
PUBLIC TYPOGRAPHY
by Noel Rivard
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tHe Perfect combination of well designed typography and an icy beer are united in The Fine Pint. You will find research done by a beer-loving graphic design student on the meaning of typography in the world of beer. Follow a brew on its journey from brewery to bar and all of the typography it encounters on the way.
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In 1988 John McDonald, founder of Boulevard started construction of the brewery in a turn-of-the-century brick building on Kansas City’s historic Southwest Boulevard. A vintage brew house was installed, and the first batches of beer were produced in the fall of 1989.
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[ AT THE BREWERY ]
Home of the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest. The signature brick smokestack is a symbol used in much of the brewery’s branding and advertising. Its painted vertical type is recognizable on the labels, bottle caps and boxes of all Boulevard’s brews. Moving to the inside of the building, other forms of typographic detail direct the tour from room to room describing the progression of the malted barley to a frothy brew.
Typographic detail leads us on a tour of the brewery, beginning with the brewing process and ends with a frosty glass of the finest craft beer in the midwest.
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"John McDonald was a missionary of sorts and has built a great brewery, brand and business.� – Rich Doyle of Harpoon Brewery.
tHere is a real similaritY in tYPefaces when moving from one area to another is most recognizable in the form of stickers of precautionary signs and symbols. The most prominent example is the brightly colored labels individual pipes in the woven mass of tubes passing throughout the brewery. Some are legible to the untrained eye, but others only mean something to those who are familiar with the brewing process.
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Mechanical signage also relates to the instructional or preventative bold, sans serif fonts that label most of the machines around the brewery.
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“He was a wise man who invented beer.” – Plato
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Directional signage around the brewery leads the tour from one part of the brewing process to the next. To grab attention, these signs are usually displayed in a metallic form. The light reflecting from the letter forms easily guide the people from room to room.
VernacUlar tYPograPHY stenciled
on
barrels
identify whether or the mixture inside – usually water and malted barley – is ready for the next step of brewing. In other areas, there are gigantic chalk boards covering the walls of the blending rooms, The chicken scratch
scribbled
in
between lines of tape marks the type of beer, percentage of alcohol by volume and other notables
involved
brewing
the
beer.
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in
perfect
B A R R E L S OF FUN ]
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ODell Brewing Company, based out of fort Collins, has a great spread of advertising material found in retail liquor stores. From burned wood brands on the inside of barrel lids to laser cut metal signs using their signature swish typeface.
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tHere is a case fUll of rUsted, bent and broKen metal brewery signs from around the country; and even some from across the globe. Influenced by the style of the 1940s, most of the old beer signage
derives letters
from hand drawn figures enclosed in ribbons or color fields. It is said that this style reflects the feeling one gets when drinking beer – bold, loud, indulgent. –John Lowery 15
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After the lager gets its final stamp of approval, the fresh brew travels across the midwest in bottles, cans and kegs by way of truck. We will follow its trip from the brewery to the shelf where each beer awaits its destiny – to be sipped by an eager beer lover.
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[ ON THE SHELF ]
a cHillY ride across tHe midwest coUntrYside prepares the jingling bottles for a frosty arrival at the liquor store. Boulevards various ales makes into beer the beer caves of many local liquor stores all around the midwest, even Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, and Massachusetts. The brews rest in coolers and cases on shelves of all shapes and sizes, therefore it is easy to spot a genuine Boulevard beer amongst the many other brews.
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a more recent PHenomenon among smaller stores is the ability to purchase mix and match 6 packs. The best part of this is the fact that you can have your all-time favorite brew while trying five new ones. These selects stores maintain what some like to call, “a sight for sore eyes,� and that is a wall of nearly every beer you can imagine.
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“Beauty lies in the hands of the beer holder.” –anonymous
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[ C R A F T Y BREWS ] 22
breweries get creatiVe
with ways of displaying their brand in
the liquor stores serving their beer. Window vinyl is one example of a place to visibly hint at the purchase of a certain breweries beer. Others advertise using small billboards and street signs. All of them heavily rely on the typographic symbol of each specific brewery.
This is also the best way to display typography specific to bottled beer, such a s bottle caps and paper labels. Craft breweries get the chance to show off their brand by placing imagery on the top, front and bottom of every bottle. Customers walk through the store and can easily distinguish which brewery each bottle was distilled.
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Of all micro breweries, Breckenridge is known for the amount of experimental tastes always a’brewin’. their unique twists on traditional flavors is reflected in the modern – yet retro – styled branding.
A case of Breckenridge double IPA mimics the stamp aesthetic associated with postage and shipping of large boxes. The same sort of style is not unusual for the beer industry, especially among smaller breweries.
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inside tHe liQUor store, typographic details separate beer from other alcoholic beverages, but more importantly from brewery to brewery. The major beer companies like Budwiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon are easily marked by their iconic logo and color scheme. A simple sans serif title with a drop shadow and contrasting color scheme automatically envisions that of a corporate identity. Smaller breweries have creative allowance to design a more unique image. For example, Leinenkugel uses a script font when printing their name, even on a. bottle cap. Creative displaying of the beer also invites beer lovers to experiment with different types of brews, from domestics and imports to bottled or cans. There is something exciting about a 9 foot mountain of your favorite canned beer.
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Back in the 1990’s Richard Squire founded Breckenridge Brewery & Pub. He had been home brewing for nearly 10 years when he decided to make it a living, which proved successful. Breck – for short – now handcrafts nearly 28
30,000 barrels of fresh beer per year.
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the bar where it will rest until the crowd rolls in. Here you will find yourself immersed in the rich typographic culture of a local pub, which includes hand painted – and chalked – signs, serving signage and brewery advertisements.
[ AT THE BAR ]
Finally, the beer is unloaded and wheeled into
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Freestate Brewery may be a restaurant by day, but the bar is open until midnight for those who can’t get enough of the local flavor. Located in downtown Lawrence, this brewery is a major part of Kansas’s history as it was the first brewery to open after prohibition. 32
let’s saY YoU end UP at YoUr faVorite diVe bar one Friday evening. Now, imagine the things you would normally see and do – a weekly special list, the pint glass filled with your choice of ale and a good laugh with a few close friends. What you are missing is all of the advertisement that you just encountered. For review, the specials list is scribbled on a chalk board mounted on an ad for Guinness. 33
Whether or not you chose a craft brew, you may have gotten a pint glass designed specifically for your brew.
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“Because without beer, things just do not seem to go as well.” – Diary of Brother Epp Capuchin monastery
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The bartender poured your hardy
smokestack on the tap for the se-
brew from a keg attached to a hose
ries dedicated to their smokestack
with a tap. That tap handle was de-
brews. Other craft breweries use
signed to embody the beer flowing
symbolic typography and images in
from it. Boulevard uses the shape
a similar way, using vivid colors and
of a grip to allude to their iconic
memorable typefaces.
[ T A P P E D I N T O TYPE] O’Fallon Brewery’s hand craft micro brew called Wheach is poured from a wooden paddle-shaped tap to reflect their resourcefulness. They pride themselves on being a leading contestant in the current race amongst breweries to become a fully sustainable source.
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Neon signs illuminate the facade of downtown bars and restaurants with a typographical intrigue overlooked by the average bystander. The curvilinear forms are built of cylindrical tubes of light that can recreate nearly any defined typeface or logo.
sticKers, bUttons, and eVen coasters are plastered on nearly all surfaces of the bar. to showcase their brewery, a company will post their identity for those of us who cannot get enough of those hand-crafted ales. The same form of advertisement is found in the windows of bars 38
in the form of neon signage.
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from brewerY to bar,
and a quick stop at the liquor store, you’ve
learned that in all of the environments surrounding beer, typographical detail is present. Well designed type and image impact the beer industry immensely, especially that of the craft breweries around the country.
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Noel Rivard Patrick Dooley, 11:30 Camera: D40 NIKON Typefaces: Gotham Regular & Condensed and Homestead
Lowery, John. Boulevard Brewery personal tour September 23rd, 2011.