Mission Springs Wins Label of the Year Award

Mission Springs Brewing Bombshell Blonde Ale was awarded 2008 “Label of the Year” by the Collectors of Canadian Brewery Advertising (formerly, the Canadian Brewerianist Society). Announced at Winnipeg’s Viscount Gort Hotel during the CCBA’s 30th annual convention, the Label of the Year award was chosen by CCBA members from across Canada and the United States. Also in the running, was Driftwood Brewing‘s Farmhand Ale.

The Bombshell Blonde Ale label was designed by Ron Fiedler of Vancouver’s Barnstorm Creative Group. It pays homage to the nose art that graced combat aircraft during the 20th Century. According to the CCBA, the “label captures the style and feel of the World War II era which is generally acknowledged as the Golden Age of Nose Art.”

Bombshell Blonde’s label shows an American Boeing B-17 bomber, the most famous of which is Memphis Belle depicted in the Michael Caton-Jones movie of the same name. Pin-up girls, illustrated by artists such as George Brown Petty IV and popularized in magazines like Esquire, graced many Allied aircraft. Mechanic, Tony Starcer, painted a Petty girl on the nose of Memphis Belle.

Bombshell Blonde Ale is Mission Springs’ biggest selling beer. It is based on a style of light beer native to Alsace and northern France, brewed with a combination of pale malt, wheat malt, and Hallertau hops.