New Labels Are Done!

The new labels for my beer are finished, and they are looking fantastic, if I do say so myself!

Here at the Editor Room with Roots, we have a super talented Farmer/Graphic Designer named Suzuki-san who made the labels for my beer again!

Thank you Suzuki-san!

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IPA

I wanted the label for the IPA to be a little cartoonish and to have that playful feel to it. I feel like whenever I was in the states, breweries would make their IPA’s super funky and have a lot of impact with the labels. So I wanted to reflect that in my IPA label this time around. This beer, as seen on the label, uses summer oranges that I found in Omori and the beets which Suzuki-san grew himself. I actually had a taste of this beer last week for a taste check and the beets and orange merged together really nicely. The color of the beer was a reddish brown and had just a super floral fragrance from the extra hops and orange peels. This beer probably packs the most “in your face” punch so the label also had to be a bit punchy as well in my opinion.

This guy is going to be great for that first beer you have before the bbq starts. It’s that kanpai drink.

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Belgian White

The Belgian White this time uses Sansho Peppercorns and Sanso Leaves, Summer Oranges, and Rice Koji. Suzuki-san actually scanned a piece of cloth he had which was dyed by indigo. The hand represents the koji making I had to do and inside of the hands are the sansho peppercorns and leaves. I also had a taste of this last week, and oh man this one turned out better than I thought! The fragrance is floral from the sansho leaves and orange peels, and the color is yellow. The best part of this beer though is that when you drink it, you get that tingly feeling which sansho peppercorns leaves on your tongue. Yup I had the brewer put about twice as much peppercorns in the beer this time, and I’m glad it worked out! It’s not so much that it makes it hard to drink, but you get a little tickle on your tongue giving the beer layers when you drink it. At the very end, you get the fragrance and umami of rice from the rice koji. last time I just used rice which came out in the top notes of the beer, but because this time around I made rice koji, the flavors of rice came out in the very end. This beer has a story, a beginning, a middle and an end. We made the label look a little more symbolic ad less in your face than the IPA so that you have to find the flavors in the beer instead of seeing it right on the label. It’s a flavor journey!

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Rauchbier

The last one is the rauchbeir or the smoked beer. I wanted the rauchbier to have more rustic look since I used oak chips to smoke the malts to make this beer. This beer is actually a collaboration beer with a company named Oak Village, which is a company that makes furniture from oak trees in Japan. They not only make furniture, but also maintain the mountains in which they get their wood from. In other words, they are maintain the supply chain of their products from start to finish to minimize their effect on the environment. They also only use domestic wood so they are also helping out with the maintenance of the Japanese forestry. When I went for the taste check I had the chance to see the brewers make this beer from start to finish. As they were steeping the malts in the water, I could smell the sweet fragrance of the oak in the air. I’m super stoked to try this beer, it’ll be the first time we made a darker style beer using the plum flower yeast.