New Series of Beers Invites You to Visit Oddland

If you recall, at this time last year we were all counting down to the apocalypse. One of the ways we were marking the last precious months of earth’s existence was with a series of beers from Elysian Brewing: the Apocalypse series.

Since the Mayans were wrong and the world did not end, Elysian Brewing has now moved on to the next thing. Today it announced a new series of beers. Like the Apocalypse series, these beers will feature uncommon, outstanding artwork by one of Fantagraphic Books’ notable artists. The Oddland series promises to be whimsical and carefree. It might be weird and creepy, but only in a good way. Not so much doom and gloom as the Apocalypse series.

Here’s the story from Elysian Brewing:

A creepy cartoon character that’s still kinda cute prowls around the otherworldly outbuildings appearing to belong to some absent Venusian pasha; frogs wink in a weird, super-cranial way; Jesus and the bear with whom he’s just been grappling (both a little the worse for wear) sit down for a slobbery catechetical lesson amid a craggy Flemish landscape.  These are the visions of Seattle artist Jim Woodring, self-avowedly not his worst–but then there’s Manhog.  But what does this have to do with beer?


sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

Good question.  Emboldened by their 2012 Twelve Beers of the Apocalypse series, in which they combined inspiration, weird ingredients and logistical legerdemain as a run-up to the Mayan end of the world, the brewers at Elysian Brewing in Seattle are collaborating with Woodring to create Oddland, an intermittent series of beers in which the artist is an active participant.  Weird ingredients are once more very much the order of the day–black, green, white and pink peppercorns for the first go, pears, cumin and cardamom for the second, and who knows what for the third–focused, inverted, enlarged and then made small again through the Woodring lens.  The labels will both disturb and amuse you; the beers intrigue, refresh and engage you.

Here’s how the whole thing works.  Head Brewer Dick Cantwell and his brainstormy gang get an idea; they run it by Woodring, who sketches his two cents’ worth and sends it on back; then the recipe is tweaked, the ingredients secured, suggestions made as to visual format, and away we all go, to Oddland.  Fantagraphics Books once more is the go-between, long-standing custodians of Woodring’s work and the hookup between Elysian and Charles Burns, the artist whose panels and covers from his book Black Hole adorned the labels for the Apocalypse series.

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

The Oddland Peppercorn Saison will hit stores (in 22-ounce bottles), restaurants and bars (on draft) and Elysian’s own taps around May 15 of this year.  The fire of black and green, the sparkle of white and the pungent fruitiness of pink, combined with a super-cool gold-foiled label, will be sure to capture every sense but hearing (but who’s counting?)  After that it’s on to the next weird little journey.

-Dick Cantwell

sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor

Head Brewer and Founder, Elysian Brewing

sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
@washingtonbeerblog
@beerblog