The boys at BrewDog have spent the last few months messing about with hops, casks and boats and are now ready to launch their Atlantic IPA, the first IPA to be traditionally matured at sea since Snuff was all the rage. So I got my inky fine liners out and conjured up this nautical inspired snapshot for the label.

To catch up on the story of the Beer, take a peek at the BrewDog Video Blog (watch out for the rope snapping incident!).

Chapter 1 – The Great Launch

Chapter 2 – Adventures on the High Seas

Thankfully, the casks didn’t get swept away in the North Atlantic storms, or swallowed by passing killer whales, or stolen by swashbuckling pirates who had grown tired of rum. They made their way back to Fraserburgh onboard the Ocean Quest and are now awaiting the bottling line.

As with most of my drawings, there wasn’t really a plan. I began with the image of the boat, then the rest of the flotsam and jetsam just sort of evolved from there. Hidden amongst the billowing waves are abandoned anchors, compasses, a treasure chest and giant squid. As a nod to the fate of Cask Number 1, which plunged into the North Sea during loading, there is a second source of sunken treasure on the seabed – the now barnacle encrusted cask.

And in a change from my usual black and white, I colour matched the blue to the exactly the same colour as The Quest’s paint work (little details like this make me happy…). So, something very different from Zephyr and Paradox, but still inherently different from anything else you’ll see in Beer packaging – no watercolour steamboats or slightly disturbing Mermaid erotica here!

Shiver me timbers, I’m pretty happy with it.