The Adventure of a Dry Hopped Saison
TLDR
This map visualizes a pretty ordinary modern map of San Francisco transformed into something akin to a 17th Century treasure map.
Juicy details
Bean Brew No. 4 was loaned to 16 brave patrons, with deliveries made via knight, life raft, and the San Francisco Pneumatic Bottle Delivery System. Patrons had 30 days to complete their quest and return both the bottle and a library lending card detailing their Bean Brew adventures. Based upon the punctuality of their borrowing habits, each patron was issued a Bean Brew Reliability Rating (BBRR), which impacts future borrowing opportunities with Bean Brew and other participating breweries in the Open Lending Network (OLN).
Two things are true about this map. One, it's actually a pretty realistic replica of a 17th century woodcut pirate map, complete with sea creatures patrolling the waters offshore. And two, it's virtually impossible to read. The authentic handwriting and primitive Excel pirate spreadsheet meant that most of the fictional absurdity was lost on people.
Format
- Format
- Silk Screen
- Size
- 24" by 18"
Prints available
Silk Screen · 24" by 18"
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The Bean Brew story
Bean Brew came about as a home brewing project transformed into a mapping project. It worked like this:
- I would brew a batch of beer (generally a Saison) into about 16 large format bottles.
- Every batch had a theme, which was almost always ridiculous, but just plausible enough to maybe be true? Accompanying this theme was a survey, which at first actually asked people about their Bean Brew beer drinking experience. However, these questions quickly went rogue.
- The 16 bottles of beer were given away at first. In later years they were actually sold in highly exclusive batches. The beer was drunk. Usually without too much hounding, every person who obtained a bottle returned their survey results to Bean Brew HQ.
- I analyzed these results with the help of my slide rule, then designed a map visualizing the Bean Brew experience.
- The Bean Brew designs were then dispatched to Texas, where my friend Rand used his mad crazy printmaking skills to transform them into four-color silkscreens. Rand was always very busy (or falling off of ladders) and the silkscreening process generally took many months to complete.
- On a happy day many months after the original beers were consumed, every person who participated in the experience received a beautiful map.