Bars, Brewpubs: Show Your Support for The Session Beer Project!

The sticker I talked about just below? I did get a sample, and today I went down to Memphis Taproom and watched Brendan and Leigh proudly place it on the side door to the bar (the front one has that nice decorative ironwork). "We have session beers," the sticker says, "come on in!" We toasted it with Cantillon Vigneronne (delicious), and then talked about a big session event for this fall; more about that later.

In the meantime...bar owners, brewpubs, brewers! Show your support for sub-4.5% beer with flavor and balance, and let your customers know you have session beer available, by displaying your own sticker. (The link takes you straight to CafePress, where you can buy the sticker direct; realized that was easier for everyone than having me buy them and have to charge twice for postage.) If you get one and display it, let me know and I'll put up a list here and on our Facebook page.

The rest of you, I decided to scrap the idea of putting something on the back of the t-shirt. I couldn't come up with something I really liked, and it was an additional $4. The logo's good enough. So you can get a Session Beer Project t-shirt here. I wore mine to Mahar's in Albany over the weekend, while I was drinking Fuller's Chiswick Bitter.

Drink up!

Some projects advance

I know some of you have asked, 'Now that you have a logo, when can we get t-shirts?' Well, I'm experimenting. I got a larger version of the logo, loaded it up on CafePress, and had myself a t-shirt made, in black. It looks good, and that's how we'll go...but I'm thinking about what to put on the back, because the logo deserves (and maybe needs) an explanation. I'm thinking about the definition we have over to the right, tweaked a bit:

Session Beer!

► 4.5% ABV or less

► flavorful and balanced

► conducive to conversation

► reasonably priced

"Thanks, I'll have another!"™

How's that look?

I also had a sample window-sticker run up for bars and breweries to put in their front window, indicating that they endeavor to have at least one session beer (not a mainstream light, and in addition to Guinness!) available at all times. That's the graphic above: what do you think? I think the wording and line graphics enhance the 'interwar" look of the logo itself.

Finally, here's a nice bit about session beer from Stonch's Beer Blog, explaining how Jeff made the progression from big head-bangers to appreciating session beers (and it's not just in there because he says nice things about my blog).

Logo Announcement

Well...it wasn't easy.

I'm not sure what I expected when I asked for logos, but the response was great. After evaluating all of them, and your comments, and my own tastes and preferences, I've finally decided to go with Steve Herberger's design, which you see posted here (in a version that incorporates a few post-choice tweaks: the color of the glass outlines and the lettering, a slightly deeper red). Steve gets the $50 honorarium and a firm handshake, and we get a common image: three beers, three different beers, and our tagline: "Thanks, I'll have another!"

Thanks to everyone who designed a potential logo for The Session Beer Project!

Errr... Anyone know how I go about copyrighting this image? Trademarking it? Whatever?

Logo selection: we need your comments!

I need some help.

I asked for submissions for a SBP logo (offering an admittedly scrawny fee) and got seven. They were all good, but I've been unable to pare them down past these four, which I present in random order. (And yes, some of the logos are being tweaked by their designers in response to comments, so keep looking!)

So I'm asking for comment. Not votes, mind you, because as the guy who's doing most of the work for now, I have to live with the winner, so I'll make the final decision, which I will announce next Monday, April 6.

In the meantime, I have decided on the slogan, a last-minute tweak to an earlier suggestion. We're going with Thanks, I'll Have Another! It's friendly, personal, and encompasses the message: good beer, lower alcohol, flavorful, social.

So comment -- and keep it friendly, this is session beer, not e*treme mud-wrestling -- and I'll make my decision in a week, and announce the winner then. Thanks!

My own comments. First shown: I like the font, like the glass graphic a lot; not sure about the red. And I do like using the full name "The Session Beer Project."

Second shown: Like the three different beers. Didn't like the arms at first, but they're growing on me...so to speak. Drew the most positive comments from you.

Third shown: Dramatic, and real beer. Nora's favorite.

Fourth shown: very suitable for a coaster, a project I'd like to try to fund. Maybe too much like a Guinness ad? The shamrock should probably go. Like the compact arrangement.

It comes down to a personal decision

The tagline run-off poll was too even to be effective, so I'm just going to make a decision. The number of logos submitted is at six, with one still being tweaked, so I think we'll have a decision there soon. And when that happens, we'll have a logo and a tagline, something we can think about making into coasters for events, and window stickers for participating bars and brewers, and shirts, and tattoos...temporary tattoos, of course: we're not extreme types.

Got two more logos since I posted this, so it ain't over yet!

Do we have a winner?

The poll's over, and the winner, with a solid plurality, is Good Enough to Have Another. But since I posted that poll, someone sent in a logo proposal with a tagline on it: "Good beer is good company." I like that, too, and both of them really get at the idea of session beers.

So I think we're going to have a run-off. Please take the time to vote again, thanks!

Two Logos Submitted

Two people have sent in prospective logos for the projects. One thing's clear already: asking other people to do this instead of trying to do it myself was a very good idea. Keep 'em coming!

Two more as of 2/5...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Pints...okay, more like, maybe, 20 pints

Since I've declared this to be The Year of The Session, and we're getting some traction, we need to start pushing the idea. Every good blog campaign has a graphic, a logo: Jeff Alworth's Honest Pint Project, our own beer blogfest The Session (guess I can't use that), Rick Lyke's outstandingly appropriate Pints for Prostates... I'm behind the curve here!

So I'm asking for a logo. I'm good with words, but I suck at creating graphics. I'd like something fairly simple, but not cheesy. The log should include at least one glass of beer -- more or the suggestion of more would be good -- and I'd prefer a photo of a beer rather than a graphic. It should include the words "Session Beer Project", and room for the winner of the upcoming tagline poll (leave space for about five words, dummy in some lorem ipsum in the chosen font, and we'll fill in the tagline later), and a small "sessionbeerproject.blogspot.com" along one of the margins. I would prefer to avoid light green and orange...just don't like 'em.

I can't afford much, but I will pay $50 for all rights to the winning logo. I don't like to work for free either, but I do work for cheap sometimes. If this doesn't produce one I think is just right, I'll hold off and try again later. My judgment is final, of course: this isn't a contest, it's a project.

So if you've got that creative flair, let it fly! Show me what you think crystalizes the idea of the Session Beer Project. You'll get the pleasure of having helped with the Session Beer Project, you'll get that fifty bucks, and you'll get a design credit. Wow, living the dream...have another session beer, bucko.