WineInk: Gonzo wine, beer labels

“I just won my bid!” a young colleague exclaimed. “I just got a snowboard on eBay with graphics from my favorite artist!”

I was excited about his enthusiasm and assumed he had Marvel graphics or maybe Keith Haring or retro Jean Michael Basquiat graffiti on his new Burton board.

“Have you ever heard of Ralph Steadman?” he asked.

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Um, yeah. I have heard of Ralph Steadman.

Anyone who has been in Aspen for any period knows about the eccentric, eclectic, and electric British-born artist who visited the community on more than one occasion to see his friend and creative partner, author Hunter S. Thompson, and exhibit his one-of-a-kind conceptions. Aspen’s DJ Watkins’ Fat City Gallery, formerly known as the Gonzo Gallery, has maintained a long relationship with Steadman and his work. His spirit is felt in the streets here.

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While you may know him as the artist who created the perfectly paired illustrations for Woody Creek writer Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing” books and his various Gonzo articles, what you may not know is that Steadman has a long association with drink, as well. Three books and some of the most interesting and marketable labels in the wine and beer world all have spilled from the imagination of one of this generation’s most stylistically recognizable artists. Many of them clearly created while under the influence of the grape. 

And he is still, at 87 years young, producing relevant work. Just this week, I bought a six-pack of one of my favorite beers, the Raging Bitch from Flying Dog Brewery, with label art by, you guessed it: one Ralph Steadman. More on that to follow.

But one of the great wine books of all time is Steadman’s “Untrodden Grapes.” Released in 2005, the book details, in amazing illustrations that are quintessential “Steadman,” the entire world of wine. That is to say, they are drawings conceived and executed as he and his wife Anna traveled the globe to some of the most extravagant and unique vineyards in existence. 

It seems that a few years back, a British wine merchant named Oddbins commissioned him to do some drawings for their promotional materials in the ’90s. This led to a greater obsession on Steadman’s part for vino and also to a series of trips to Chile, California, South Africa, Spain, Italy, and several French wine regions for “research.” Of course, he took his pens and paper with him and created what amounts to a “Fear and Loathing in the Vineyards.”

The book is beautifully illustrated and gives the perspective of one who sees things, well, a bit differently. The stories read like a travelogue, detailing the joys of traveling wine country and meeting interesting people rather than simply a “wine guide.” If you love the Steadman images from your experiences with Hunter and the world of Gonzo, then you will find yourself equally rapturous when looking through the pages of “Untrodden Grapes.” Want to go deeper? Try finding Ralph’s earlier books, “The Grapes of Ralph” and “Still Life with Bottle.”

But if you are not of the literary bent, you can still see, and yes, participate in Steadman’s work. You see, he has also produced a series of iconic labels for beer and wine. Labels are so outrageous that they have been banned in some states.

And it all began here.

If you were in Aspen in the early ’90s, you of course remember the late but much, much lamented Flying Dog Brew Pub that resided down under where, well, a hole exists today across the street from the Paradise Bakery. Created by George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre, the Flying Dog featured a bar helmed by the great Pat Ryan who dispensed not only craft beer, but also prodigious wit, wisdom, and considerable charm. Across from the bar and behind a glass wall at the Flying Dog was an actual brewery where great beers were brewed. This was the beginning of what has become a nationally-distributed craft brew brand called Flying Dog.

The story goes that when George was thinking about bottling his brews, Hunter introduced him to Ralph. Together they collaborated on the label for the Road Dog Porter, Flying Dog’s first release in 1995. The label featured a sunglass-wearing dog in a striped shirt with psychedelic ears and two inscriptions. The first, from Hunter, read “Good people drink good beer.” And a second, which read “Good Beer. No Shit.” It was this line that created both controversy and an enduring image for the brand as a rouge brew.

The State Liquor Board of Colorado decreed the Steadman label to be obscene and removed all bottles from the shelves. Flying Dog fought for four long years in court with the help of the ACLU to contest the ruling under the principles of free speech. They won their fight, and Flying Dog’s Road Dog Porter with its original Ralph Steadman label was back in circulation.

Flying Dog beers are still made, and this past summer, the company was purchased by a brewer in Utica, New York, named FX Matt Brewing, which brews beers under several labels, including Saranac. The company has been in the beer business since 1888. Almost as long as there has been an Aspen. Family-owned, it seems a good home for the Dog. I purchased my six-pack of the Steadman labeled Raging Bitch locally at Jimbo’s in Basalt.  

In terms of wine, Steadman also produced a label for Randall Grahm (who also has more than a touch of Gonzo) at Bonny Doon Vineyards for his “Cardinal Zin” Zinfandel. This time, the censorship issues came in 2001 in the state of Ohio, which had legislation that forbids labels from including “advertisement or representation portraying pictures of children or religious subjects.” Steadman, of course, used an image of a demented cardinal (the religious figure, not the bird) drooling what could be construed to be red wine – or perhaps blood, depending upon your hallucinogenic interpretation.

Alas, Bonny Doon sold the “Cardinal Zin” line in 2006. But if you come across an original bottling of the “Cardinal Zin” with a Steadman label, I would surely keep it. 

It will be a Gonzo collectible. As is my friend’s Steadman snowboard.