The Art of Beer: ABCs of Beer Bottle Art

The Art of Beer celebrates the intoxicating world of beer bottle art and introduces the Whet Whistle Bottle Collection.

The collection started in the '70s when a newly legal beer drinker saved a bottle with an interesting label "for his future Man Cave."  Decades later, the Man Cave remains a dream. But the collection continues to grow. And it's documented in this book, which features more than 200 labels from nearly 100 brewers including Stone, Deschutes, Sqauatters, Speakeasy, Sierra Nevada, Lost Coast, Mendocino, Anchor, Redhook, Boston, Pyramid, Wasatch, Dogfish Head, Baltic, Shmaltz, and Wychwood. 

You don’t have to love beer to enjoy this book. But if you do love beer, you’re sure to find many of your favorites represented here.

Get this book. It’s the most fun you can have without actually drinking the beers!

The Whet Whistle Bottle Collection is an accidental collection of more than 2,000 beer bottles. The collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, began saving beer bottles as travel souvenirs in the 70s. Over the years, he added bottles from brewers far and wide, and soon, the collection commandeered the better part of a small storage unit.

The collector's wife insisted the bottles start earning their keep. So after raising a pint or two, the collector green-lit the book. The result is 26 still-life panels that celebrate the art of beer. Each panel features up to 11 bottles with 2 things in common: They stand out as excellent designs, and they start with the same letter of the alphabet. For instance, the letter B features Big Daddy, Black & Brew, and Buzzard Breath among others. Hobgoblin, Hoppy Face, and Hop Rising join forces under the letter H. And the letter M showcases perennial favorites, Mud Slinger, Maudite, and Moose Drool.

It's a happy intersection of photography and foam. Please enjoy responsibly.

Kate Wilcox didn’t set out to be a beer bottle art enthusiast. You could say she married into it. A native Oregonian, Kate studied Art and English at Principia, a small (and sadly beer-free) liberal arts college near St. Louis, Missouri.  On the way home from college, she stopped in Utah and found romance on three fronts: the mountains, rivers, and redrock canyons of the Behave State; the burgeoning intermountain craft beer community; and a certain bottle collector who is finding it increasingly difficult to remain anonymous. The latter of the three eventually brought her to the central coast of California, where she keeps busy as a writer, photographer, and beer-bottle art lover.