Sultry women to sunburnt men: curious beer labels doing the rounds

“Why is there a girl on my beer?”

"Why not?" says Irishtown Brewing Co, who seem to feel the need to explain, on their website, why they decided to put the image of curvaceous woman pouting her lips on their Dublin Blonde lager. Equally flirty – though a little more serious, perhaps – is the redheaded woman on their Dublin Red ale.

I’m not really sure what these women are trying to tell me, the drinker standing at the bar, wondering what to order. (Beyond the obvious, of course – that it’s a blonde selling a blonde beer and a redhead selling a red ale, get it?)

Will the beer make me pout more perhaps? Or make my hair turn blonde if I drink it?

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Or is the redheaded woman trying to tell me something with her sultry gaze? That this is a quality beer? Something suggests to me, however, that she’s not really thinking about beer. But I could be wrong.

Retro

The Dublin Blonde woman – apart from featuring on Irishtown’s tap badges and branding – also resides in giant format on the side of the Hairy Lemon pub in Dublin, should you be wandering past.

As marketing goes, it’s about as subtle as a model draped over the bonnet of a sports car. Perhaps Irishtown thought the kind of 1950s retro look might make it ok – or maybe their target audience thinks it’s all a bit of fun. But who is their target audience? It certainly isn’t me.

As an interesting contrast, there’s a case of bad sunburn and middle-age spread on the chap sitting at the beach on the label of Hope Beer’s Summer Session IPA.

A few empty bottles are scattered at his feet in the sand, his hat is tilted over his face, and he’s in a “summer state of mind”. Bursting with lovely tropical juiciness, it’s crisp with a light body, and is a sessionable 4.5 per cent.

As summer beers go, this one’s a winner.

@ITbeerista beerista@irishtimes.com