don't judge a beer by its bubbles

Not my picture

We had a discussion on Christmas day about which beer cans looked like beer cans. I had bought some beer from the Echigo microbrewery (at the supermarket). Stout, lager, pilsner and a blond (or make that about four of each). Two of the guys who joined us for Chrismas are English and they and their Japanese wives all drink Guinness, so I had that, too. My American colleague also likes it, so they were all well-catered for. I don't like it, but you know, a good host and all that.

Guinness is going to win, anyway. It's well-known and it's got that harp which, despite the effects Guinness might have on the drinker, gives the can (we drank the bottles first. We live in Japan, remember, and not Tokyo, some things are hard to get) a touch of class. Know wot I'm saying? Well, sobriety and serenity. Also had some Lowenbrau, which has that wicked griffin kind of design, and Kirin also has a griffin. Yebisu (pronounced Ebisu) has a smiling god, but Echigo has a goat.

A goat sporting a lovely Pilsner in its cloven hoof. This is the Pilsner, as you may have gathered. Jim and I both agreed that the design for the Pilsner and the Blond, which are similar, definitely looked like the product, 'beer'. Ooh, and again, not my photo.

I am in love with the goat, actually, and I like their design a lot. The pilsner and blond are the two that look the best. The lager, though, very tasty, easy to drink, has stripes on the can. My friend was right (let's call him Jim). He said it looked like pop, soda, a soft drink. The stout was apalling. It looked liked a Bundaberg and Coke UDL. We held up the 5 beers or so in front of us to ask Jenny, the only non-alcoholic, which one didn't look like a beer can. She picked the Yebisu. The beautiful red of which is in the picture below in the post on the Japanese party (I'll post another picture later). Just to reiterate, everything tasted fine, but this post is a matter of æsthetic taste.

Not my picture

I had to disagree on Jenny's call. I love that red (you can see it in the first picture above) and would not equate it with Mountain Dew or Pepsi. Anyway, I'll put up some other pictures later, and throw the question out there if anyone is reading over the holidays - which beer design/can/bottle doesn't in anyway look like a beer to you? Which is a disgrace, in design, if not in taste, to the whole nation of beer-dom?