Toronto artist Dave Murray and Grolsch’s 400th anniversary

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If you’ve been reading my beer-writing for a while, or following me on social media, you’ll know that I’m kind of nerdy about cool beer label art. Yes, it’s really just an extension of a brewery’s marketing and has little bearing on what’s in the container, but when it’s done right or when an effort is made to collaborate with local artists or produce a label that is unique, I really dig it.

A couple years back I wrote an “article” for blogTO featuring the art on Toronto’s breweries’ labels. That “article” may or may not have been an excuse to bring a whole bunch of beer up to my inlaws’ cottage, but it did allow me to learn a little more about the process some of our local brewers use to develop label art. Some, like Mill Street, were predictably not so exciting (a design team develops the labels. Effective, but not exactly riveting stuff). Others, like Bellwoods, Great Lakes, and Indie Alehouse, employ local artists to develop art that is an extension of their companies’ general philosophies.