The Craft Beer Marketing Awards Enters Its Third Season

The Craft Beer Marketing Awards (CBMA) will be holding its third year of competition in 2022. The first ceremony was held in 2020, but had to go fully virtual due to global COVID-19 shutdowns. Although this timing was unfortunate, it went over extremely well, so the CBMA was held as a hybrid ceremony in 2021, where more than 195 awards were presented. The plan is to hold a fully in-person awards ceremony (with a virtual feed) during the week of the May 2022 Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis.

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5 Questions with Schlafly Brewing’s Lead Designer, Sarah Frost

Picture your favorite beer. What do you see? Maybe it’s poured in a proper glass, bubbles bursting. Odds are though, you’re picturing the can or bottle the beer initially came in. While the liquid itself brings great pleasure, it’s typically the vehicle it comes in that you associate with first. That’s why beer can artwork is so fun, so creative, so celebrated at times. Because it makes the beer standout both on-shelves and in your mind. St. Louis-based Schlafly Brewing continues to churn out great beer can designs that celebrate the history or place of origin behind a beer’s name or style. It’s a unique approach that has paid dividends for the brewery and for their lead designer, Sarah Frost. To learn more about Frost’s unique approach to beer can art, what inspires her and what labels she’s most excited about this year, I asked her five questions.

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48 Beer Project | Meet Label Artist Heidi Geist

We all know the cliché, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” In theory, that advice can be applied to beer as well but yet, we all ignore that saying. In reality, the cover (or in the beer industry, the label) is what sells the first can or bottle, while the contents sell the following case and create loyalty. It would be foolish to think the package doesn’t matter. The design wrapped around the liquid tells the story of the product and the company.

Stories are the foundation of human experience and connection and Portland, ME based artist Heidi Geist has quite the story. She is in the midst of a cross-country endeavor to explore and experience the American craft beer culture through label art. I had a great conversation with her about the 48 Beer Project, how it got started, what she is experiencing and the works she creates.
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‘Breasta Fiesta’ | Georgia’s Creature Comfort’s Brewing Co. Honors Artist Sara Papp

Front and center in the manifesto for Athens, Georgia’s Creature Comforts Brewing Co., the brewery says, “We take inspiration from those who crave curiosity and share its reward. The thinkers, the inventors, the artists, the explorers.”

You have to believe Sara Papp was one of those people.

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