Clever name for Mead...

August 7, 2006 9:08 AM

A friend (and my IT guy at work) is a beekeeper and is making mead. He's gotten me out of alot of jams with my laptop when i was on the road and I'd like to return the favor by making him labels for his mead.

I need a label and a name. I found some cute images of bees but am not sure quite yet how I am going to make the labels (kinkos? on my printer?).

If anyone has ay ideas for images for the labels or the labels themselves label I'd love them but I am also trying to think of a great name. I thought of the "tipsy bee" (or maybe i heard it a long time ago and remebered it) but I am open to just about anything clever...

posted by beccaj to food & drink (11 comments total)

I made labels for my dad's mead some years back. I drew a honeycomb with a honeybee walking along it, with my dad's name and "Mighty Mead" in script at the top ("Frank's Mighty Mead") and the year at the bottom. I cut the label in the shape of a hexagon.

If the mead is flavored (mint, blueberry, gooseberry etc.) you might add this to the label, too.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:19 AM on August 7, 2006

you could call it waggledance. It's the name of the special dance honeybees do to signal they've located nectar.

(it's also the name of an ale here in the uk)
posted by tnai at 9:27 AM on August 7, 2006

Be sure to use labels with water-soluable adhesive, or he will curse you when it comes time to wash and re-use the bottles. Most home-brewing stores sell such paper; most peel-and-stick labels are not suitable.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:31 AM on August 7, 2006

You could call it Buzz, but that might not be the kind of image you or your friend really want to project with this.
posted by dilettante at 10:18 AM on August 7, 2006

The bumblebee is also called the humblebee, which is a wonderful name for such a wonderful little insect. So I vote for prominent use of the word "humblebee".

Insects generally, and bees specifically, lend themselves to being reduced visually to squares and straight lines, sort of a modern art humblebee. I don't have any examples to link to, but you can envision the segments and wings of the bees body as a series of boxes, and then exaggerate the yellow & black striping. Honeycombs and beehives should also work well as purely geometric forms, in that the bees themselves have done most of the straightening for you. Something bold, reduced, and modernist might play nicely as an opposite of the sorts of images one thinks of when one hears the word "mead".
posted by nflorin at 10:30 AM on August 7, 2006

As far as how to do it, get some Avery labels from an office supply store. Pull up the template for that label in Word (the website has directions) and design your label using the Drawing toolbar, importing photos and other functions.
posted by omidius at 11:22 AM on August 7, 2006

Honey'd Moon?
posted by DrtyBlvd at 12:47 PM on August 7, 2006

"The Sting." Use the movie poster.
posted by kindall at 2:26 PM on August 7, 2006

Walter Russell Mead?
posted by evariste at 4:30 PM on August 7, 2006

If it's in a nice clear bottle, you can make an interesting transparent label the following way. Get some appropriate transparent print film for your inkjet or laser printer, and print a mirror image onto it. Put some double sided tape over the printed side of the transparency (yes, over the print itself) then stick it to the bottle. The print now shows up facing the correct way, and can't be scratched off.

Regular print labels are good, but can be hell to remove, as MrMoonPie says above. I labelled some homebrew once, used some really aggressive adhesive. After that experience I switched to putting a small sticker on the crown seal of the bottle.

I suspect that a paper label with an adhesive like the clear glue you find for kid's crafts would be fine, it should come off a bottle quite easily, but stay there of it's own accord. PVA glue (the white stuff) should also have this characteristic on glass, but it won't dry if it's under an impermeable label.
posted by tomble at 11:45 PM on August 7, 2006

I suggest that whatever you go with, it involve a play on the (in)famous Grandpa Simpson quote: "So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. 'Give me five bees for a quarter,' you’d say."
posted by feloniousmonk at 2:20 PM on August 8, 2006