Comments on: How the Other Guys Do It: BrewDog’s Punk IPA

By: Honza

Honza — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:24:00 +0000

What a interesting discussion:)
I think you are both right. Evan with description of what logo and logo type is. Pivero with idea, that even the type of writing can regognizable for a company, here for the brewery. There could be also a face associated with brand, which would be difficult to “re=write” into logo or logotype.

And yes, our “tomcat” style logo is no good for Svaty Norbert. When they put themself into a history and few centuries old story, they need something related to it…

By: pivero

pivero — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:11:54 +0000

I do mean the carving. Yes, it is complicated, but it works pretty well as the symbol of the brewery, IMO.

To me a logo is something that identfies a company, or a brand, and it should have a lot to do with the image the company wants to give. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something streamlined like a red star to do the job. There are countless companies out there, breweries of all sizes included, that have what might be called complicated logos that still do the job very well. Kocour’s, which is a bit in the style of brewdog, if you ask me, works very well for a brewery of its kind, its style wouldn’t be appropriate for one called Sv. Norbert.

By: Evan Rail

Evan Rail — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:02:03 +0000

I’m sorry, Max, but you’re wrong. That is not a logo. A logo is something like the Heineken red star, the Michelin Man, or the Nike swoosh. A logo is a symbol. Not words.

Something that says “Svatý Norbert Special Beer” in a specific typeface is a different element of marketing. It’s called a logotype.

Logos and logotypes are not the same thing.

The difference between logo and logotype has been described quite clearly at Yahoo answers:

“A logo is a graphical element, (ideogram, symbol, emblem, icon, sign).”

“A logotype is a uniquely set and arranged typeface.”

So Svatý Norbert clearly doesn’t have a logo, unless you mean the woodcarving of the hop cone. That still doesn’t fit my definition of a functioning logo — it’s too complicated and intricate to work as a symbol or design used to identify products. Moreover (and more to the point), it’s nothing like BrewDog’s howling dog or Kocour’s tomcat.

Next!

By: pivero

pivero — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:20:21 +0000

Sv. Norbert does have a logo, and nice one at that. here you can see it http://www.pivovary.info/prehled/strahov/strahov.htm
Also does U Medvídku, but it is actually the same as the restaurant, pension, etc and I they don’t use it on the bottles, at least not that I remember of.
Come to think of it, most craft brewers have logos, have a look at pivovary.info, the thing is that many, if not most, are pretty dodgy and they can only be seen at the brewpub, since they don’t bottle their beers.

By: Knut Albert

Knut Albert — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:12:19 +0000

Punk IPA was one of the first beers from BrewDog, and while their aspirations were probably there, I don’t think they envisaged golbal distribution when they wrote the label!

By: Evan Rail

Evan Rail — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:00:11 +0000

Purkmistr’s camel is a logo, yes, as is Avar’s mustachioed Avar. But no, I don’t believe Sv. Norbert has a logo as such, not in the sense of “a symbol or small design adopted by an organization to identify its products.” Neither does U Medvídků, for that matter. They may have nice labels, but no, they do not appear to have logos. (Or if I’m missing out on Sv. Norbert’s symbol, please tell me what it is.)

Hi Lars, excellent point. However I wonder if the target audience for Punk IPA is even aware of Stone’s beers. In any case, the text is ridiculously similar: it looks like a cut-and-paste job. To the lawyers!

By: pivero

pivero — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:35:23 +0000

“I can’t recall any Czech craft brewer beyond Kocour that has a functioning logo. Avar, maybe? ” There are, problem is that most of them won’t bottle their products. Sv. Norbert has a pretty fine logo and I like the labels on X33 and Oldgott, just to mention two. Of the rest, most tend to be of the old fashioned or, if you want it, classic type, Purkmistr with the camel is a good example.

By: Lars Marius Garshol

Lars Marius Garshol — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:50:49 +0000

"though in this case the bull comes off as the kind of funny and harmless joshing between good friends" Actually, my reaction was that the first sentence is more-or-less directly copied from the Arrogant Bastard Ale bottles. It's not a big deal, but I was kind of disappointed that they couldn't have hidden their inspiration a bit better.

By: Knut Albert

Knut Albert — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:37:42 +0000

I love their labels, though the Punk IPA is probably not quite as mean as they claim to. I think you should put it in context – other British IPAs tend to be very bland, the Greene King IPA is a good excample of that.
You should go for their Paradox series of Stouts aged in whisky barrels next, each one of them with a character soaked up form the ghost of the whisky that used to be in the barrels.
I actually got a few bottles from the brewery yesterday. Maybe a review should mark my return to the land of the beer bloggers? We’ll see..

By: Velky Al

Velky Al — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:58:47 +0000

I thought the label was hilarious! Along the same lines as Wychwood’s “What are you afraid of lager boy? Scared you might taste something?” tag that they used with Hobgoblin.