The series of ‘Dinosaur Beers’ from Urban Artifact (I like calling it Dino Beer…) is really something special. It’s beer that while being LOADED with real fruit, is dry, wine-like, and even more importantly fermented with a yeast that was spontaneously collected from right here in Cincinnati by the Urban Artifact team. These barrel-aged sours are the culmination of all that these folks have worked towards from the day they opened their doors.

Look… you can read all about the series, and what beers have been included in it so far (they’re always playing around with new ideas) – but this post is a look towards where the series is going. I have an episode of Cincy Brewcast with Bret from Urban coming up on 4/27 that you’ll want to listen to because we talk about this a bit, but I couldn’t wait to tell you about it until then.

A new label that rolled through the TTB this week gives us a nice picture of what the next steps for the series are all about.

The Beer

The label in question is a dino beer called Dilophosaurus, and I’m dying to get my hands on it to try it. The beer is brewed, and then spontaneously fermented with wild-caught yeast, and receives a dose of the local favorite Paw Paw fruit before being tucked away in a barrel to do its thing until it’s ready.

Just go ahead and sign me up for this one, right now. But as excited as I am to try one of these dinosaur beers with Paw Paw fruit? It’s not even the real reason that I’m writing this right now… this is about the package itself.

A Switch For The Dinos

We’ve come to expect the Dino beer from Urban Artifact to come packaged in the distinctive 500ml bottles, corked and caged that they debuted in. It’s a beautiful format and feels like you’re holding something really special in your hands. But that’s also the downside of the packaging that they have come in. They feel special. You don’t always want to crack one open on a random Thursday night while you’re watching Lion King with your toddler for the 852nd time this week. We sometimes find ourselves skipping over an amazing beer for something a little more “normal” on what we’ve deemed is a “normal” night.

The battle from Urban Artifact is one to keep that “special” factor of the dinosaur beers, while making it a little more likely that you can dive into one by yourself on that random Thursday night. Their solution is one that I’m really liking… smaller bottles.

If you look a little closer on the label, you’ll see that it’s for a small, 6.3oz bottle. These small bottles will come packaged in a four pack, which means that you’ll get the same amount of beer… but split up into several servings. It’s a lot easier to find yourself picking one of these up and popping it open when you have a couple more lined up right behind it.

I love this move… stay tuned for it to start popping up on Urban’s online store (you know you can order online and get your beer shipped to you now, right?) – but as more release info comes out, you’ll always hear about it right here on the website too!