Idyll Hounds came out with a new beer for the fall of '22 that used a lot of sweet and chocolatey flavors. Candied Stout with Oreo was the final flavor palette they went with so I used a lot of rich dark chocolate colors and the background is the texture of frosting.
This beer was a bit wild so I felt like the label should be just as unhinged. I decided to go with this collage + illustration imagery that I have always come back to in my personal work but have never used for a client project. It's a little risky because it's hard to adjust and you really rely on finding the right imagery but I think the risk paid off!
I scoured the internet for vintage photos in the public domain and pieced them together. Slowly a story emerged and Katie at Idyll hounds suggested the perfect name; Amateur Paranormal Researchers.
I created an accompanying badge to feel like a real scout's patch which could be used as a piece of merch itself. By picking up this beer the customer can feel like they are entering an exclusive club. They can really take time and inspect the label art if they want and search for each cryptid. A lot of people have knowledge of at least one or two of these folklore creatures so it's a fun opportunity to tell your group of drinking buddies some old-fashioned camp fire stories.
