Not Your Father’s Olde Frothingslosh

July 21, 2009

It’s Michigan Beer Month. But for me almost every month is Michigan Beer Month. I was trying to figure out a way to honor Michigan breweries a little differently, so I decided to pay a tribute to the women of Michigan beer. Brewing is considered a male dominated industry. Yet Michigan has some great women that work , sell  or promote  Michigan’ s brewing industry.

Still,we have to face the fact that the majority of beer drinkers are men. On a crowded and competitive beer shelf, it is important to catch the eye of the consumer while establishing your own style of label. One thing I have noticed is the use of attractive women on the some Michigan beer labels.  I wondered, I’m sure it was after a few beers, the real story of the women of Michigan beer labels. The women I am spotlighting in this post all represent a different style of woman. They run the gamut from a working frontier woman to a free spirited modern girl.

I e-mailed some Michigan breweries and asked them to add some depth to the two dimensional ladies we see on our beer.

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales’ Calabaza Blanca:  When scanning any great beer section, Jolly Pumpkin’s labels grab the eye. Illustrator and EMU grad Adam Forman is the man behind Jolly Pumpkin’s surreal art work. Outside of the labels that feature their dog Bam,  their  brewing style is reflected in the theme of their labels: The era of exploration. Much like the men of this era pushed the boundaries of our world, Ron Jeffries pushes the boundaries of brewing by taming wild  yeast and creating a consistently incredible product.

One of the brewery’s staples is Calabaza Blanca which is a Belgian Biere Blanche. It’s a clean easy drinking beer with a dry mouth feel and tart finish. I would explain the flavor and odor but you need to taste it. Any description of a farmhouse style beer would never sound good to anyone unfamailar with that style.

The label is blue with a woman looking out at a tall ship that is seemingly coming into harbor. Maybe she is looking for a particular ship that carries the man she loves. I asked Laurie Jeffries what the meaning was behind the label:

Ron says that he thought of me when he was asking Adam, our label guy, to draw up a vision of a woman looking over an old banister out to the sea.  Looking for my pirate I guess.  Maybe a bit romantic but not really exciting. 

Keweenaw’s Widowmaker Black Ale & Pick Axe Blonde: Keweenaw is unique to the Michigan section of your local beer shelf because it is the beer that comes in cans. Their blonde is a fantastic summer beer. It is perfect for the golf course and/or boating. They brew out of Houghton, Michigan, a great beer town and an important port for the area’s copper boom of the 1800s.

As you can see by the labels, both of these women are tough, women similar to John Henry’s “good woman” that takes over is job after he is gone. Caring and nurturing at home but can swing a pick or a hammer.

Here is what Paul Boissevain of Keweenaw brewing had to say…

Both these logos are based loosely on the heyday of  Copper Country mining, when copper was the economic driver in the Keweenaw Peninsula.  These women are both meant to represent the spirit, independance, fortitude and resourcefulness of the women of that era, with a little humor and good looks mixed in. 

The go anywhere, do anything attitude that is also represented with putting craft beer in a can: take it where glass won’t go.

From the label on the Widowmaker:
“Don’t let its looks deceive you. Clean and smooth, easy on the hops, easy on the palate, this light bodied ale has a surprising depth of flavor with pleasant hints of smokey molasses.”

The “widomaker”, a pneumatic drill that operated without benefit of water to lubricate the bit and cut the dust, was introduced to Copper Country mining in the late 1890s.  While greatly improving productivity, the drill became known as the “Widowmaker”‘ killing many of the miners who used it from illnesses related to prolonged dust inhalation.

Founder’s Porter:  This was my session beer last winter.  The smooth taste, with hints of chocolate and caramel, is the perfect beer for a cold winter night but not too filling to exclude it from being enjoyed anytime of year.

The description of the porter’s appearance from the website is “Pours silky black with a creamy tan head” which mirrors the woman on the label. Donning black Victorian-era clothing and ivory skin, this mysterious Gillian Anderson look alike seems to have eyes that follow you around the room just like those paintings in Scooby Doo, reminding you that this is the best porter on the beer shelf. Why would you pick any other?

I asked Dave Engbers to give us the story behind Founder’s mysterious beauty:

I wish I had a cool story to tell you about our Porter label.
Unfortunately it was simply one of the labels that our designer had put together for us and we liked the look.  If anything, we always thought that she had a young Stevie Nicks look about her.  Underneath her picture it reads “Dark, Rich and Sexy”  We believe the beer and the woman definitely are that.

When Founders began having capacity issues, and we didn’t have room for any additional fermenters, we were forced to discontinue two of our smaller volume beers, Porter and Imperial Stout.  We are extremely pleased to re-introduce both of these products in 2009.  The Porter is now brewed throughout the year and Imperial Stout is part of our Specialty Beer Series and is available in January.

Arbor’s Brasserie Blonde: The Brasserie Blonde is a belgian blonde ale with that slightly tart taste that I love.  It is both sweet and citrusy with a nice dry mouth feel. It’s available all year long, but I feel it is a perfect summer beer.

 When I see her I picture a flapper from the jazz age. Her blonde hair with red highlights match the beer’s appearance. I usually think that women from that era are easy going with a little sass. With a sweet start and a tart finish this beer could definitely be described in that way.

Here is Matt Greff’s story:

 The woman on our Blonde label might actually be a relative of mine.  We discovered through some friends in France that there was a Brasserie Greff in the city of Nancy in the Lorraine region of France from 1856 to 1942.  They made a Blonde and a Brune as their two main brands.  Even though I’m Polish, my dad did research and discovered that my ancestors originated in Lorraine and one of them ended up staying in Poland after the Napoleonic wars because he fell in love with a Polish girl.  So odds are it’s the same family.  That poster itself is from the 1920’s when the brewery re-opened after WWI.  This friend of mine in France is a breweriana collector and set me up with some posters from that era from the brewery and we used the woman from their old label.

Short’s Soft Parade: The fifth way to unravel is to sit on a west Michigan beach and sip Soft Parade. (Any Doors fans reading this will get that reference.)  Located in one of Michigan’s biggest tourism regions Short’s is reason enough to make the trip to Northwest Michigan. Their menu includes great tasting staples along with tremendious experimental beers that are uniquely tasty.

As for the label I want to think the girl is named Sandy whose eyes offers soft asylum. At 9% the Soft Parade has an intoxicating personality. It is an easy drinking beer that will sneak up on you.  She personifies the phrase “stop and smell the roses.” In this case it is stop and smell the fruit. Soft Parade is rye beer with the taste of blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

I asked Scott Newman-Bale of Short’s. He  contacted the artist and Soft Parade label illustrator Fritz Horstman.  This is what he had to say:

I drew this label on a summer afternoon on a rooftop in
Brooklyn.  I was up there drinking beer with my then girlfriend and her roommate.  They both fell asleep in what seemed to me to be a  way that fit the soft parade idea very well.  The roommate was sitting across from me in a folding chair that could have been along the roadside of soft parade route.  I can’t now recall her name.

Atwater Dirty Blonde: Atwater takes pride in being from Detroit. You can see it on some of their labels. They should be instantly recognizable to any Michigander. Four beers have the right hand map of our state right on the label with a star to show their location which is Detroit’s rivertown district in a warehouse that once sat across from the Stroh’s lab. If you do see their beer in the store I recomend the Vanilla Java Porter.

One of their seasonal beers is called Dirty Blonde. A modern girl that shows her love for Detroit with the English D tatooed on her hip. An American wheat with hints of orange and coriander, Dirty Blonde is an easy drinking for a double header on a hot summer day.

I’ll let Mark Rieth tell you about his beer.

The Dirty Blonde name came from a beer naming competition we had a year ago.The concept behind Dirty blonde is stated on our label – Live Smart and enjoy everyday.  Dirty blonde is more about an attitude and living life to its fullest.

I realize that I can’t name all the real women that help make the Michigan beer scene great because there are way too many to list. They do more to promote Michigan beer than any two dimensional eye candy on a beer label could ever do. We at Michigan Beer Buzz appreciate all the work you do.

I would also like to thank all the breweries that took the time to answer my questions about the ladies on their labels. Your beer is so good we would buy it without the ladies on them.

Posted in Beer Humor?, Michgan products, beer