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(Courtesy Sapporo)
2024 is the “Year of the Dragon” and international brewers are celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year with new can artwork that embraces the season brilliantly.
Sapporo Year of the Dragon Cans
Sapporo USA is celebrating with a special artist collaboration six-pack, featuring the art by Tokyo Hiro, a legend in the tattoo world. Hiro is a tattoo phenomenon who has designed album covers, merch and more for professional athletes, bands and brands like Bad Religion, The Offspring, Mötley Crüe, Motörhead, Fender, Adidas, Hurley and others.
Hiro’s “Year of the Dragon” artwork features two dragons flowing around the package and the Sapporo can. The open mouth on one dragon wards off evil spirits while the closed mouth of the other keeps good spirits in. The two together are representative of the end and beginning of the New Year. Red accents harken good luck, as is traditional in Japan this time of year.
(Tokyo Hiro / Courtesy Sapporo)
“When I was learning to tattoo under Bob Roberts of Spotlight Tattoo, he would always tell me, ‘east meets west, that’s your style,’ explained Hiro. “I feel so lucky to work with Sapporo on this project because we both understand what this means. Sapporo adopted German brewing in Japan in the same way I’ve combined my Japanese and U.S. experiences.”
Sapporo is the oldest beer of Japan and the number one selling Japanese beer in the US. And a limited quantity of signed and numbered Tokyo Hiro artist screen prints will be available via a text-to-win sweepstakes in early 2024.
The 18”x24” prints feature Hiro’s Sapporo Premium dragon wrapping around the iconic Sapporo bottle in celebration of the collaboration.
Sapporo is the oldest beer of Japan and the number one selling Japanese beer in the US. And a limited quantity of signed and numbered Tokyo Hiro artist screen prints will be available via a text-to-win sweepstakes in early 2024. The 18”x24” prints feature Hiro’s Sapporo Premium dragon wrapping around the iconic Sapporo bottle in celebration of the collaboration.
(Courtesy Asahi)
Asahi Year of the Dragon Cans
Japan’s top selling beer brand, Asahi, has collaborated with Japanese pixel artist Hermippe to launch a brand-new Pixel Art edition can celebrating the Year of Dragon.
“Hermippe’s intricate dragon design uses mixel,” according to the Drinks Business, “a technique that combines several types of dot sizes to create a complex illustration. Pixel art is originally associated with Japan’s 1970s videogame culture. The campaign’s key visual “depicts a futuristic Tokyo cityscape drawn with crisp lines in a flat composition, reminiscent of traditional Japanese painting and woodblock prints.”
Asahi’s special edition “Year of the Dragon” cans are currently available throughout the Asia-Pacific region including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore.
