Woody Guthrie and the Eastern Front: "Miss Pavlichenko."

During the course of his research for the label of NABC Eastern Front (see excerpt below), graphics maestro Tony Beard stumbled across Woody Guthrie's ode to Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Guthrie performed the song with the help of a machine that kills fascists.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Mikhailivna Pavlichenko (Ukrainian: Людмила Михайлівна Павліченко; Russian: Людмила Михайловна Павличенко; Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko; July 12, 1916 – October 10, 1974) was a Soviet sniper during World War II. Credited with 309 kills, she is regarded as the most successful female sniper in history.

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There’s a whole new identity for an old favorite: Eastern Front, formerly known as Elsa von Horizon.

Eastern Front remains true to the same idea of an Imperial Pilsner, as brewed seasonally during recent year, and as originally formulated by former NABC pub brewer Jared Williamson as part of the since-retired Brewers Best Friend series.

In recent years, David Pierce (NABC’s director of brewing operations), has honed our Imperial Pilsner into even more of an awesome seasonal release than it was before. Unfortunately, and perhaps curiously, Elsa has not resonated as well off-premise as when poured in our own two establishments, prompting a rethink.

Trust me: I didn’t make this decision lightly. Changing Elsa’s name and imagery is hard, primarily because of my respect and esteem for Jared and his long tenure at NABC. At the same time, we really want the idea to succeed, and not just in our own smaller marketplace. It has clearly been the case that the Elsa name and previous label design did not click with the wider pool of customers, especially in the bottled version. So, a plan for adaptive reuse was in order. The beer’s just too damned good to leave behind, and so we move forward with Eastern Front.

The name Eastern Front is layered, and it reflects my own interests.

Eastern Front recognizes that throughout history, German and Slavic lands have overlapped, hence this strong, hoppy lager’s stylistic re-augmentation as a “Russian” Imperial Pilsner. It’s also a nod to graphics wunderkind Tony Beard’s artistic label inspiration: Female sniper teams posted to the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War (in the West, we still call it World War II).

Tony’s presently working on the label for Eastern Front, and as soon as it’s ready, you’ll see it here. This year’s batch will be draft only, with a limited allocation for outside draft sales in Indiana and Kentucky. In 2014, we hope to include a bottling run.