Few things get us as excited as seeing a beer’s personality come to life through art. It always starts with a name—in this case, “Long Road Home.” The inspiration? A friend’s dog who has a hilarious habit of simply “quitting” and lying down whenever it’s time to head home. We initially pitched a quiet scene of a man walking his dog along a mountain path at night. However, our artist Caio Braga suggested a brilliant pivot: moving the scene to daytime and swapping a mountain for a smoking volcano to dial up the drama. We loved the bold direction, and the first sketch was born.
With the concept locked in, the artist moved into the line-drawing phase. This is where we play a high-stakes game of spatial Tetris. Using our new label layout, we carefully mapped out the composition to ensure the brewery logo, beer name, and branding had room to breathe. It’s a delicate balance—we want the artwork to shine without hiding the essential details that let you know it’s one of ours.
Then came the colour and fine-tuning. Honestly, the artist nailed the vibe almost immediately—it was like he climbed inside our heads. We only had a few small refinements to get it perfect: we removed the beer mug from the man’s hand to keep the focus on the journey, swapped his shorts for long trousers for a more “grown-up” look, and, most importantly, added a collar to our four-legged star, we wouldn’t want him running away. With those final touches, the vision was complete.
So there we have it, the finished artwork transferred to the Dog’s Window mock-up can. A new style from us too, a Hoppy/West Coast Brown Ale available from www.nearestbeershop.com
