Label Mates: Judging A Brew By Its Label

21 July 2015 | 1:49 pm | Staff Writer

Come for the awesome label design, stay for the taste.

Come for the awesome label design, stay for the taste. 

 
Hitacho Nest
This Japanese beer is immediately recognisable for its little owl character. Kiuchi Brewery started making their Hitacho Nest series in 1996, and brew their beers with a hint of the traditional sake brewing method. There are 11 varieties in this series including the popular 
white ale, Japanese classic ale, ginger ale and pale ale.
 
 
 
Quiet Deeds
From Aussie trailblazers Patrick Alè and David Milstein's new Red Island Brewing Co comes Quiet Deeds; it's all about the simple, good things in life, and that's reflected on its colourful but not too complicated label. The Quiet Deeds brews cover a session ale, pale ale, white ale, IPA, Kolsch, a vanilla porter and a lamington ale (!). 
 
 
Yeastie Boys
Stars of the New Zealand craft beer scene Stu McKinlay and Sam Possenniskie have won numerous awards at home and abroad with their Yeastie Boys brews, which include the flagship and best seller, Pot Kettle Black (with eight awards to its name), the Gunnamatta IPA, Rex Attitude (according to Yeastie Boys it's "the world's first heavily-peated single malt ale"), White Noise ("a perfumy coconut and vanilla note on the nose, with a little citrus and spice") and more.
 
Sample Brew (pictured at top)
 
Ah, elegance in simplicity. Sample Brew focuses on taste, quality and design, with their pale ale and gold ale being slowly brewed with all natural ingredients, resulting in a diverse flavour from batch to batch.