The mustachioed man on the Birra Moretti label gets a trim.

In the mid-1980s, when I first visited Italy, the country was by no means a beer destination.

However, the scene was changing, even then. Demographics were key, as younger Italians gradually rebelled against the wine-centricity of their elders by embracing beer, which at the time meant the usual vapid international golden lagers like Carlsberg and Heineken.

These days, craft/specialty brewing is firmly established in Italy, though less so in Sicily, where we vacationed during Thanksgiving week. There is a world-class beer bar in Catania, our destination, and I'll describe it when there's time.

Of course, Italy always has had standard golden lagers of its own. In the eighties, I preferred Dreher, but it was less common than Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Birra Moretti. Michael "Beer Hunter" Jackson had a high opinion of Moretti LaRossa, an amber, malty lager somewhat after the fashion of a Vienna. Sadly, I saw none of it in Catania.

In terms of mass-market fashion sensibility, a crucial factor in stylish Italia, Birra Moretti always was the hands-down winner, and so it remains. The brewery, which is located in northeastern Italy near Austria, was purchased by Heineken 20-odd years ago, and its trademark mustachioed man has experienced ... shall we say, evolution?

Interestingly, this man was a real person. Here's the story, circa 1942, as explained at Moretti's web site, and followed by the first-generation visuals.

One day, in 1942, the nephew of Luigi Moretti, the founder of the brewery, going out for lunch saw a pleasant-looking man sitting at a table in the Trattoria Boschetti in Udine. There was something unique in that man.

By 2010, there had been a metamorphosis.

What’s changed? For starters, his Reverse Hitler ‘Stache has grown into a Flanders. Also, his de-aged designer has given him the strength to hoist the mug of Moretti with noticeable gusto.

In the 2016 label below, as gracing the bottles I recently drank in Catania, he seems a bit bleached -- and I swear, the mustache keeps getting smaller, although it's probably my imagination.

The bottom line: It's possible I won't drink another Moretti until the next time we visit Italy, but it's strangely comforting to know that this classic imagery persists.

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"Does craft beer have a sexism problem?"

I tend to agree, and have said so in the past.

The PC: Ripped straight from the pages of an Onion satire: “13 white males not really so eager to discuss issues like racism and sexism.”

Eventually we did, and a committee has been formed within the Brewers of Indiana Guild to gather information and work toward recognizing such. It isn't fast enough for some, and not even for me, but we all must start somewhere.

The following article by Josh Noel is ironic in a very specific New Albanian sense. as just this year a downtown "Hot Stone Spa" finally closed after three years and numerous complaints, with its landlord, a Republican council person, insisting all along that he had no idea about matters such as human trafficking and the sex trade at spas. Only when he resolved to run for mayor did the eviction occur.

ON THE AVENUES: Got spa? Time for CM Zurschmiede to reel in the years.

Happy endings, indeed. The newspaper makes it almost impossible to read, but ...

Does craft beer have a sexism problem? Binny's rejects Happy Ending, by Josh Noel (Chicago Tribune)

Atlanta's SweetWater Brewing Co. began distributing beer in Chicago this week, but its most notable beer at the moment might be the one that's missing.

The Binny's Beverage Depot in Lincoln Park has declined to stock SweetWater's Happy Ending imperial stout due to what the store's beer manager called the "sexist, borderline racist" artwork on the bottle.

Happy Ending (a reference to male sexual climax, presumably after a massage) features images on its bottle that include a box of tissues, the face of a man achieving what looks to be the pinnacle of pleasure and the silhouette of a geisha. It all added up to a bit more than the store's beer manager, Adam Vavrick, was comfortable putting on shelves.

"This label is about a female Asian sex worker manually masturbating a man to orgasm and cleaning up the ejaculate with tissues," Vavrick said. "Why is that appropriate on a beer label?"

Local illustrations, local beer. Artists here, not there.

Localism in design, localism in beer. Beer and design driving home the message of localism. In such a fashion, we revel in opportunities to refocus the attention of radical beer geeks on the places where they actually live and work.

Magazines, websites and ads using more of local artists' handiwork, by Matt Frassica (Courier-Journal)

... Illustrators, and the companies that solicit their work, say they’ve seen a renewed interest in hand-drawn illustrations, such as cartoons, because they often capture people’s attention and can drive home some kinds of messages better than photography.

Publications such as LEO and Louisville Magazine frequently showcase local illustrators.

NABC's Tony Beard is included among these, as is Robby Davis, who designs labels for Against the Grain.

Across the river at the New Albanian Brewing Company, Tony Beard started with the company 10 years ago, working in the kitchen. But his boss, Roger Baylor, found out about his drawing hobby and asked him to design a logo for Hoptimus, an imperial pale ale. Beard gave the beer a Transformers-inspired robot in yellows and oranges.

Houndmouth, alternative label and video.

I'm getting into the habit of posting at the revamped NABC web site, and directing traffic from here.

Houndmouth, alternative label and video

You’ve already seen the Houndmouth beer specs.

Now NABC’s graphics department (Tony Beard) is developing a second label design that perhaps better represent the band’s vibe. Currently Houndmouth is on the road down South, and you can keep up with the group via Facebook.

NABC's Tony Beard in the Indy Star.

In which Tony gets some love from the Indianapolis newspaper's beer-loving correspondent.

Beer companies get creative, put artwork on cans and bottles; Microbrewers get creative to get attention: beer on the inside and art on the outside, by Michael Atwood (Indy Star)

With names like Hoptimus, Moloko, and Osiris, craft beers from New Albanian, Three Floyds, and Sun King leave a memorable impression on the minds of drinkers. But along with their names might come another impression, that of their container art.

Tony's bomber label design for Elector.

The label has been submitted for Federal approval ... and Tony starts on the next design.