Design Booze

I'm a sucker for packaging design. I don't always care what the product is or what it does - if it has beautiful packaging, I'm pretty easily inclined to buy it anyway. Or at least spend a good deal of time contemplating it before convincing myself I don't really need a $300 silver-plated panini maker, just because I liked the label.

I'm especially guilty of this practice in liquor stores. Or, most recently, the craft brew section of Total Wine, where I left with a $10 six-pack of 400 Pound Monkey, because the illustration was so freaking delightful.

(As it turns out, it's a light little IPA that's not so bad either.)

And while I've considered stocking an entire bar out of booze with packaging I love, some of it is really pricey. (Not to mention, I'm sure some of it tastes like complete swill.) So here, in no particular order, are a few other beverages I've loved solely for their design.

Frisky Midget

Not ALL my great loves are based in illustration, but this one? Absolutely. (Plus nesting dolls always intrigue me. They're so quirky.)

(P.S. I don't actually drink wine. It's a love that was never meant to be.)

Frozen Ghost Vodka

Gorgeous and totally gives me the creeps. Well done, Frozen Ghost.


1800® Tequila Essential Artists

All of the bottles in this series are very cool, but it was the Gary Baseman one that sold me the hardest. I love tequila, I love mermaids - and amazingly, NEITHER of those things were even the reason. It's the mexican wrestler. I just... I just... love him.


Rush River Beer

Every now and then you see something with really simple design and great typography that is just bare enough to stand out from everything around it. I guarantee there's probably not a glossy finish in their entire product line, and it makes me want to snuggle them.


Grimm Brothers Brewhouse

Yes, it's totally about the illustrations. BUT, everything about the Grimm Brothers brand is working for me. Look at that logo! GAH! I can't even deal.

Kraken Rum

Without a doubt, Kraken has got to be some of the BEST packaging design ever put out into the world. So much so, I'm not even taken by sticker shock at their $1000 custom wallpaper. In fact, I kinda like it. And throw in that lamp for good measure, because that octopus really speaks to me.


I've been thinking I might like to design someone's craft brew, based solely on my love o' booze art. So if anyone makes a crappy beer that needs to be salvaged by some awesome artwork, give a girl a heads up. There might be a trade agreement to be had.