Battlefield IPA by Avondale Brewing Co.

For a state that only won the right to sell beers over 6 percent alcohol by volume in 2009, what better way to celebrate Alabama’s rich past than with a beery homage to history itself? Avondale’s Battlefield IPA was inspired by the only Civil War battle fought in Jefferson County, where Avondale calls home. Label designer Isaiah Same recounts the story:

“The skirmish commenced as opposing sides came upon each other in a local park. It was a short battle, and there were no fatalities, except that while the armies were fleeing a stray bullet struck a nearby woman in the breast. She survived,” he says. “We thought … had she the opportunity, she would have most certainly needed an Avondale IPA to numb the pain.”

As part of the design firm Telegraph, Same has created other labels for Avondale (an elephant guzzling a beer represents Miss Fancy’s Triple, for one). But the challenge he confronted with Battlefield was to convey the aggressiveness of the beer’s flavor profile—intensely hoppy with a rich malt backbone—while communicating the story behind it, all in one “succinct, memorable image,” as he puts it. “It has to be simple enough to see on a beer bottle with water beads or on a tap handle in a dark bar”—which the bright green, smoking cannon and pile of red cannonballs certainly is.

Many “battlefield” images were rejected—a rifle with a bayonet, a cavalry soldier on his horse, a woman with a bloody breast (no surprise that one didn’t make the cut). “Honestly, we settled on the cannon because we thought it was instantly recognizable, has good aesthetic value and packs a good punch, just like the IPA,” Same explains.

“I think when you’re scanning the line of beers to pick your beverage, you subconsciously choose the one whose label or flavor fits your mood at the time,” he says. “Done right, a good label reminds you of the palate instantly.”

Translated into beer-speak, we know what that means … “Did we come up with the Avondale designs while drinking Avondale beer? The official answer is no. But we all know the truth: Good beer makes the perfect lubricant for great creative brainstorming.” ■