Though East End Brewing's Illustration Ale was originally released in the summer of 2010, these labels haven't. These new labels were approved and posted by the TTB a few months ago for this latest batch, but aren't set for a formal release - along with the beer - until Saturday, February 4th at a special event at Pittsburgh's Toonseum. A little more about Illustration Ale from East End Brewing:

"Six local artists have conspired with this local brewery to bring you Illustration Ale, a limited edition, 700 bottle run of a one-time East End brew. Each bottle bears handiwork of one of the six different artists who contributed to this project, and two bucks from the sale of each bottle will go directly to Pittsburgh’s very own Toonseum! Illustration Ale is a bottle conditioned beer, with a rich dark malt character, spicy and nuanced, but without any actual spices added. That all comes from careful handling of our Farmhouse ale yeast."

You can hear more about the Toonseum event here. Illustration Ale will be available for purchase from East End Brewing in large swing-top bottles.

Interesting note: There was some difficulty with the government approval of one of these labels, which is of course nothing new. The last label below had to be revised and resubmitted. The original label bore an "X" for the dinosaur's eye. This was rejected on the grounds that it implied the beer would have a certain effect on the consumer. We can't have that, now can we?