"I'm from Kansas and I have a yellow dog."
That was as close to a brief as I had beginning this project. It just so happened that the dog in question was a yellow Labrador Retriever. The brewer in question was a no-nonsense Kansan with an appreciation for the German history of beer brewing (he also owned an expensive and impressive pair of lederhosen, but that's neither here nor there).
And thus Lab Bier was born!
An illustration based on the original concept for the tap handles. A nice play on the 'Lab' half of the name.
Lab Bier's beer is tasty. It's very tasty. It's the kind of beer that provokes comments like "this is a crisp post-lawn-mowing beer" or "it's like a fireside wintery stout that I can drink in August." Full disclosure, I said both of those things. But the important take away here is that it's not a pretentious beer. Lab Bier set out to make a beer that would cost the same as a cheap American adjunct can (the actual brand that was used as a means of comparison has been omitted, but it may or may not have rhymed with shmee shtone), but do it so that it tastes better. In these rough economic times, that's some admirable work.
We needed two taps that didn't give the impression that one was the lesser beer-ahem, bier.
The colors are all taken directly from the state flag of Kansas. It's also a bit of happy serendipity that these colors also have a lot in common with warm amber tones associated with beer. Much like the beer itself, the brand was designed to be no-nonsense. Very direct and bold. Something that everyone can appreciate.
The twin tap handles were designed with an economic eye. Lab Bier's travel setup is a portable keg with two taps, no two events have the same offerings, so to make the most economic choice possible, and without making one beer seem "better" than the other, the logo was broken down into our "A" and "B" ("Do you want Lab or Bier?").
