Mohawk Blog

Chicago Brewery, Mikey Burton Team up for Tasty Poster Series

Words
Jessie Kuhn
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The old saying “you are what you eat” is taken to a new level with designer and illustrator Mikey Burton. “I draw what I eat,” says Mikey, whose personal project, a blog called Barrel Body, serves as a place where he can capture his caloric intake.

For two months this summer, his posters featuring food and beer illustrations will be a feast for the eyes of visitors to DryHop Brewery, a Chicago-based craft brewery and kitchen, with a track record for partnering with uber-talented artists to create a sense of community and generate excitement surrounding the release of limited-edition posters.

Local artists sharing their work at restaurants is not a new concept, but DryHop certainly has a knack for choosing talent, like Jack Muldowney, Dan Grzeca, and now Mikey, whose styles truly bring the DryHop brand to life in mouthwatering and thirst-quenching ways. The brewery not only displays and sells prints of the custom work for two months at a time, but they really let the art and food take center stage in drawing the community together by dubbing each release “Whiskey & Art” (a series in 2014) and now “Food & Art.” With each unveiling, they build anticipation on Instagram to the new work, which culminates in a special event where the artist is present and DryHop executive chef Joel Pillar works his own magic in pulling together an exclusive menu for the evening.

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“There is absolutely a positive energy and sense of community that comes from working with local designers/artists,” says Eileen Garrity, DryHop creative & communications director. “We love having an ever-changing art wall in the brewery. It helps make the space that much more dynamic and community-driven.”

The exclusive menu Chef Joel paired with Mikey’s lively food and brew illustrations was certainly as robust as the artist himself: Long Island Oysters baked with garlic and herb butter, Baby Back Ribs and Cornbread and Fried Doughnuts with Lemon Vanilla Glaze.

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So where does the name Barrel Body come from for Mikey’s food and art blog? “Even though I’m 6 feet tall, I wear a 30” length pant. So, I’m like Michael Phelps—all torso … minus all the athleticism. Most of my weight gathers in my center, which creates a barrel-like frame,” Mikey says. The initial idea was to draw food in order to help himself lose weight by visualizing what he was eating. “I’m happy with my man shape, but I’m getting older and I like to watch what I eat,” he says. But somewhere along the line, Mikey discovered that he simply loves drawing food and bringing personality to boot to something like an egg on his plate.

“There is absolutely a positive energy and sense of community that comes from working with local designers/artists. We love having an ever-changing art wall in the brewery. It helps make the space that much more dynamic and community-driven.”
Eileen Garrity
DryHop Creative & Communications Director
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His favorite poster in the DryHop series is the one featuring a burger, which is loosely based on the DryHop Burger. “I just really like drawing burgers cause they always look a little like a face to me,” he says. At second glance, we think he’s right.

Production Notes

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Designer
Mikey Burton

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