Downtown Duane

Photo by Eric Jelinek

Flatmo stands by the McKinleyville totem pole, which he recently repainted.

Throughout the past 10 years,microbreweries have been springing up all over the country. From Maine to California, small breweries' beers have been leaving their mark on taste buds. In Humboldt County there are five microbreweries, located in five of the larger towns.

Aside from the beer, one of the trademarks of Humboldt County's microbreweries is their eye-catching bottle labels, painted by some of the area's finest artists. Eureka artist Duane Flatmo, 40, paints labels for the Humboldt Brewery's Red Nectar and Gold Nectar and four of the Lost Coast Brewery's six beers.

The concept for beer labels is a group effort. Barbara Groom, owner of Lost Coast Brewery, is active in the design process.

"The second label (Flatmo) did (for us) was for Alley Cat Amber," Groom said.

Groom discovered his artwork on the 1992 Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival poster. When she wanted an alley cat on one of her ale labels, she asked Flatmo to draw one similar to the cats she had seen on one of his murals. The tough alley cat wearing an eye patch and hanging out in a garbage can is the result.

"Having good artwork is good for getting attention," Groom said.

She should know. Her Lost Coast brews are top sellers up from Seattle to San Diego, as well as in New Mexico. The biggest seller is Downtown Brown.

Free beer is a bonus to his work. "I always ask for a lot of free beer, so I can get into what the beer's like," he said.

Flatmo describes his style as "whimsical cubism," he said. "It's similar to Picasso's style, but not as difficult to figure out."