As you know, our house illustrator, Nikki Jarecki, does all of our drawings. She has a very distinctive hand so there's a commonality to the look and feel to all of our packaging. A world and sensibility our characters live their lives in. Where they fall in love, scrap and steal from each other before they doze off or scamper into the sunset. However, just as we enjoy working with other breweries, occasionally Nikki will also collaborate with other of our art friends to blend styles and add something interesting and new to the pot. The first of these projects to make it to package is with the amazing Samantha Brodek. (How do we know Samantha? We'll that's a long story involving a few metal bands, RVA, cheeseburgers and lot of chit chat about pickles. Buy us a beer at the bar sometime if you want to hear it.) What's important, though, is how well her work fits into our universe yet how different it is at the same time. She shares a similar sense of whimsy in her storytelling, yet her stippling and sharp line work are phase-contrast microscopy of dark, forgotten corners. A twist of light and perspective searching for something beautiful and unique in the night. For more of her work, visit http://samanthabrodek.com

Speaking of growling, that's Bitches the Cat making a catmeo on the carrier. Leave us off your “Best Cat Beers” list now, meowbag!