Since we’ve almost made it to the weekend, I thought I’d mix our weekly design inspiration with some cool brews.

Södra Maltfabriken is Stockholm’s first micro-brewery, and they have their design aesthetic down. Their packaging is super sharp with great colors and a cool mix of typography. According to Cool Hunting, the liquid inside is as tasty as the bottle is well-designed.

Below is a more local hero out of Texas, Austin Beerworks. According to their website (which looks great), they are “hell bent on excellence.” And we definitely think they’ve achieved it. Their logo, can and beverage are all a cut above.  And we weren’t the first to peg Helms Workshop (the firm behind Austin Beerworks’ look) as a quality design firm, Design Envy featured them recently. Their design is much bolder than the Södra Maltfabriken bottles above, but it is precisely executed.

If you need some more beer inspired advertising to get your Friday night going, the more mainstream brewer Shock Top’s new ad features a suave spokesman making his way around a post-apocalyptic Earth in a clean suit. What does he say about the end of the world as we know it? “You don’t care. You’re out there doing all the things you always wanted to do.” And apparently one of those things you want to do is drink a Shock Top. 

Whatever your beer of choice, enjoy it this weekend. And if you care about design, like we do, hopefully it’ll be dressed in something nice too.