Brewsday Tuesday on Tattoosday - Ninkasi Edition

We're launching a new feature here on Tattoosday - "Brewsday Tuesday"!

From time to time, we'll be checking out the tattoos of someone at a brewery and talking about their product. Beer and tattoos are two of my favorite things, and I'm happy to celebrate them together!

Our first partner in the series is Ninkasi Brewing Company (@ninkasibrewing) in Eugene, Oregon.

Meet Nick Yarger, Creative Director at Ninkasi:

Photo by Rob Sydor

After seeing this photo, I was eager to talk to Nick and had the opportunity to have a little chat with him about his tattoos, as well as his role in Ninkasi. Not to mention the glass of Ninkasi's Helles Belles he's enjoying in the photo.

First of all, let's look at the black and grey tattoo on Nick's upper arm:

Nick explained that this piece depicts "a ship going out to sea, and there's a kraken grabbing at it as it goes out to a stormy sea ... but it's also an image of a skull, so when you stand back, the back of the ship is its teeth and the eyes are the sails and the storm in the background is the back of the skulls's head."

Nick added that it was inspired by original art by Phil Roberts. Roberts is a well-known surf artist that Nick had the pleasure of working with in Southern California. Here is the Roberts piece that inspired the tattoo:

The tattoo was translated from Roberts' concept to Nick's skin by Tim Mcalary (@tim_mcportcity) at Gold Rush Tattoo (@goldrushtattoo) in Costa Mesa, California. Tim currently works out of Port City Tattoo in Costa Mesa.

When I asked Nick if he saw a relationship between tattoos and what he does for Ninkasi, he responded:

"Oh, absolutely. Some of the brands embody that tattoo feel. If you look at our Helles Belles, that one is specifically geared toward that culture, that tattoo style. That one is more my style than any of our other brands...

If you look at [the label] it's got the traditional sparrows in it, the lettering, all the elements are taken from traditional tattoo style."

Now, let's talk about the beer.

In the photo above, Nick's holding a Helles Belles, a truly magnificent lager, and he acknowledged in our conversation that this particular brew is the favorite Ninkasi crafts. Before compiling this post, I was mostly familiar with the brewery's stronger and darker brews (Vanilla Oatis, Tricerahops, and Total Domination) but, after talking to Nick, I sought out, and found, a few bottles of Helles Belles to enjoy, and enjoy them I did.

Over the years I have tended to drift to the dark side, dismissing lagers because I prefer bolder and thicker brews. Of course, when you have a good, well-crafted lager, that viewpoint shifts, and I was really blown away by how flavorful Helles Belles is. Crisp, light, yet deeply delicious, I was reminded how tasty lagers can be when they're just done right.

As part of this inaugural Brewsday Tuesday post, Ninkasi has generously offered to give away a Helles Belles t-shirt (like the one Nick is wearing in the photo above) to one lucky Tattoosday reader. All you have to do to win, is "like" this post on social media, or post a comment below. We will randomly select a winner in a week and announce it on Tattoosday.

Thanks to Nick Yarger at Ninkasi for being our inaugural tattooed Brewsday subject, as well as to Ali AAsum, Ninkasi's Communications Director. They really were a joy to work with and made this post a lot of fun to compile!

You can check out all Ninkasi has to offer at their website here: www.NinkasiBrewing.com.

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