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Bean Brew Esthetic Survey Results

Fake map · 2015 · Absurdist cartography

TLDR

Bean Brew No.3 was utterly incomprehensible, by design. To this day, I don't understand most of what's on this map, even though I designed it.

Juicy details

I asked the members of the Bean Brew No.3 cohort to chart their drinking experience, then captured their results with lots of graphs and impenetrable statistical analysis thrown in for good measure. The typography in the data table is intentionally out of alignment, replicating what I hoped seemed like a badly broken typewriter. Many people who saw the map just assumed I was bad at graphic design.

One highlight from the survey experience was asking participants to visualize their beer drinking experience. Coincidentally, Bean Brew No.3 had an exploding problem, with the beer frequently volcano-ing out of the bottle upon opening. Many of the best drinking visualizations captured this turn of events quite astutely!

The Bean Brew No. 3 plot... After reviewing applications from thousands of potential subjects, sixteen persons were chosen from the pool based upon a secret algorithm and a pair of pink dice. Utilizing the most recent advances in beer bottle technology, Bean Brew No. 3 was distributed throughout the test region with an attached postcard, postage paid. After imbibing their bottle of Bean Brew No. 3 (a dark rye saison with overly active carbonation), participants detached the postcard from the dispensing bottle and completed the analog survey using either a pencil or pen. Bean Brew partnered with the US Postal service to coordinate the return of said surveys to the Bean Brew Pocket Brewery. A team of six actuaries compiled the most germane survey data, obtained positive peer reviews from thirteen academic journals, and delivered their findings to a pair of data visualization geeks who worked with a shared typewriter and lead nubbed compasses to finalize this document. The results are tabulated in the DRAFT pivot table below. Drinking locations are charted on the map above, accurate to 1/10000000000 of one inch.

Format

Format
Silk Screen
Size
18" by 24"

Zoomed details

The Bean Brew No.3 pivot table, which pushes the boundaries of comprehension.
Bean Brew No.3 had an explosion issue, as visualized by three drinkers.

The Bean Brew story

Bean Brew came about as a home brewing project transformed into a mapping project. It worked like this:

  1. I would brew a batch of beer (generally a Saison) into about 16 large format bottles.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. I analyzed these results with the help of my slide rule, then designed a map visualizing the Bean Brew experience.
  5. 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.
  6. On a happy day many months after the original beers were consumed, every person who participated in the experience received a beautiful map.