The Brew Shop & Platypus Pub in Bend, Oregon

This is a bit off-topic as far as this blog is concerned, but it is something we are very excited about as beer enthusiasts. Here in Bend, Oregon, the locally-owned Brew Shop is very clearly the best place to buy your beer. This summer, they are moving their business (and opening a pub) to 1203 NE 3rd St - a very prime location, right in the middle of town. This is somewhat art-related, as we had the privilege of reworking the existing logo for The Brew Shop and creating a logo for the brand-new Platypus Pub (see graphic above). We may have the opportunity to do some interior artwork, which we will definitely post here.

If you ever visit Bend (or just pass through), be sure to stop by The Brew Shop and tell them Louie & Cara sent you, but leave some of the rare beer for us!

EDIT (SEPT 16th): The Brew Shop and the Platypus Pub are now open!

They have new websites in the works, but until then, it seems a lot of the google searches will go here. Right now, the Platypus Pub has a bunch of great stuff on tap and the Brew Shop is restocking and expanding their bottle selection (but somehow they still have Abacus, Parabola, and FW 14 in stock!!). I would highly recommend stopping in for a few beers and a Platypus Burger - tasty!

EDIT (NOV 14th): The Brew Shop website and the Platypus Pub website are now live!

Trappist Rochefort 10

Oil on Canvas
26x22in
$400
SOLD

What can we say about Rochefort 10? It is one of the best beers in the world, that also happens to be available just about everywhere. 

So, why an oil painting of Rochefort 10? This is a question that we should have answered months ago. While these larger-than-life oil paintings approach photorealism, we feel that they possess a physicality that a photo simply does not. The transparent, permeable layers of color work in conjunction with impermeable, visceral strokes of paint to create a light-reactive, dimensional surface. 

Being full-time artists, we live a fairly spartan lifestyle. Beer is our luxury. We do not have a furnished bar, a beer cellar that isn't a closet, or a living room to hang the very artwork we do. Basically, we make the beer art we would like to have on our imaginary walls.

Original oil painting of Russian River sours

Oil on Canvas

16x32in

SOLD

Russian River Brewing, based out of Santa Rosa, CA, is well-known for making incredible beers inoculated (or willfully infected, if you will) with brettanomyces, a wild yeast that is often feared in winemaking and brewing circles. This painting pays tribute to Temptation and Supplication, two wonderfully nuanced wild ales. Along with being made with brettanomyces, lactobacillus, pediococcus, and saccharomyces, these two in particular are also barrel-aged for a year. If you've never had a wild ale, we highly recommend trying one of these. If your cellar is already loaded with Russian River sours, then this painting may be just the thing your walls need.

With this beer painting, we did a little something special and took process photos along the way. We left out the boring stuff like going to the wood shop and building the canvas frame, stretching the canvas, and triple-priming (not to be confused with Miller Lite's "triple-hopping") and sanding the canvas.

Girardin Nouveau

18x24in

Mixed Media

Commission

Short's & Russian River, Lost Abbey, and Dogfish Head

Commissions

Michael Jackson - The Beer Hunter

18x24in

Mixed Media on Canvas

$160
SOLD

An ink and paint rendering of the late, great, hugely influential beer writer Michael Jackson.

Cantillon Fou' Foune Nouveau

20x24in

Mixed Media on Canvas

SOLD

Westvleteren Nouveau

This isn't the first piece of Westvleteren-inspired art we've done and it probably won't be the last. We love the mystique surrounding this Trappist brewery and the three great beers that come from it. With these paintings and illustrations we are always trying to pay tribute to beers and breweries we love. Beyond that, we like the idea of elevating beer art beyond tin signs and neon lights. With Westvleteren, it is about filling a void, as there is virtually no way for those that love Westvleteren to show it beyond saving a few caps.

As with the other illustrations we've done, this illustration is priced quite a bit lower than our regular oil paintings. Despite the fact that this is an illustration, it is still drawn, inked, and painted on canvas with a hanging wire on the back and a varnished surface for protection.

20x24in

Mixed Media on Canvas

SOLD

Firestone Walker Brewery

Oil on canvas

18x20in

$250

Buy Now

Masters of the barrel, Firestone Walker brews out of Paso Robles, California. We are huge fans of Firestone Walker and can't resist picking up at least one six pack of Union Jack IPA every week. From their great regular line-up, to the incredible Abacus barleywine we recently tried, we're pretty convinced this brewery can do no wrong, which is why we wanted to pay tribute to them with this painting.

Trappist Nouveau

14x36in

Mixed Media on Canvas

SOLD

This is an original Art Nouveau-inspired illustration of the six Trappist breweries of Belgium - Westvleteren, Chimay, Achel, Westmalle, Rochefort, and Orval. Each brewery is represented in its proper location on the map of Belgium, along with having a cork or crown in the composition (except Achel, which have plain crowns). While some many debate which brewery produces the best beer, it is undeniable that all the Trappist breweries of Belgium have a rich history of producing world-class beers. The incredibly unique Orval, the highly-sought after Westvleteren 12, the style-defining Westmalle Tripel, the ubiquitous, yet great Chimay Grande Reserve, and our personal favorite, the Rochefort 8 are all worth celebrating on their own - - and together in this illustration.

Samuel Smith & Westmalle Nouveau

Commissions

Thomas Hardy's Ale

Commission

The quintessential age-worthy beer, Thomas Hardy's Ale. This immortal brew is no longer produced, rendering every remaining bottle precious.

22x28in

Commission

Dogfish Head Commission

18x40in

Commission

Orval Nouveau

20x24in

SOLD

This is an original Art Nouveau-inspired illustration of Orval, the iconic and very unique Belgian Trappist ale. This illustration depicts the also very unique bottle and glassware of Orval, as well as the legend of the trout returning the lost ring. According to Wikipedia, the legend of Orval is as follows:

There is a legend of the abbey's foundation, purporting to explain the name '"Orval" and the coat of arms. According to this, the widowed Mathilda of Tuscany was visiting the site, when she lost her wedding ring in a spring, to her great distress. When she prayed for the return of the ring, a trout appeared on the surface of the water with the ring in its mouth. She exclaimed "Truly this place is a Val d'Or(Golden Valley)", from which the name "Orval" is derived, and in gratitude made available the funds for the foundation of the monastery here. The abbey arms show the trout and ring. The spring still supplies water to the monastery and its brewery.

This illustration is priced significantly lower than our regular work, but still comes with a hanging wire on the back - no framing is necessary.