Happy 85th birthday, you mighty beer can. On Jan. 24, 1935, cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale first went on sale in Richmond, Virginia, an event that would eventually be recognized as the beer can’s official birthday.

Once a stunning innovation that revolutionized the beer industry, the can remained relatively unchanged for decades, save a couple of improvements to the opening tab. Then with the advent of “microbrews,” the beer can became a symbol of macro brews, the mass-produced, under-flavored American lager. In its place, bottles of craft pale ales, IPAs and the like, with their fancy labels, became de rigueur.

But in recent years, the once-lowly can has made a comeback, starting in 2002 when Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado started canning its Dale’s Pale Ale. With improved technology, the can now has become a common vessel for packaged craft beer, offering better, more lightweight portability; improved recyclability; and an imperviousness to damaging light or air.

And as of late, designs for beer cans have gone bonkers. Eye-popping graphics. Radical designs. Outrageous uses of color. This is the modern-day beer can.

In honor of the beer can’s official birthday, which led to Jan. 24 being dubbed Beer Can Appreciation Day, we visited Belmont Station bottle shop to see which designs stood out. Here, in no particular order, are 10 gorgeous cans we found that illustrate the movement:

Mouth Pillow Hazy IPA

Sasquatch Brewing (Southwest Portland)

Sasquatch Brewing's Mouth Pillow Hazy IPADave Killen/Staff

The concept for the name and art resulted from a brainstorming session over “a few too many beers,” says Sasquatch co-founder Alex Beard. The crew was looking for “some words to evoke the soft, pillowy mouthfeel we were getting on our new hazy IPA.” What they landed on was Mouth Pillow, and the design sports a set of chompers to represent a hop bite and pillows to convey the softness of the beer. Beard said the design was executed by a close friend of the business, Ryan Schroeder, an Adidas designer who moonlights as Sasquatch’s label designer and has done all of its beer cans.

Ritual Colors New-American Hoppy Ale

Foreign Objects Beer Co. (Monroe, New York)

Foreign Objects Beer. Co's Ritual Colors New-American Hoppy AleDave Killen/Staff

This dreamy, water-color design is by Seattle resident Molly Dolan, who does all of the can designs for Foreign Objects Beer. Founder and head brewer Steve D’Eva says this: “The label begins with an idea in my mind about the colors, textures, and general atmosphere that each label should express. I then describe that idea in detail to (Molly) who then makes, by hand, the original artwork which becomes the label.”

YOB Doppelbock

Wayfinder Beer (Southeast Portland)

Wayfinder Beer's YOB DoppelbockDave Killen/Staff

Wayfinder Beer is known for excellence in many areas, including its aesthetics. Some of its cans are dark and vaguely sinister, such as this YOB Doppelbock. Wayfinder co-founder Matt Jacobson oversees the brewery’s marketing and design, and he says the full color original art for this can was created for the album “Our Raw Heart” by Eugene doom metal band, YOB, which is on Jacobson’s record label (he’s a multitalented guy who also started Sizzle Pie). Award-winning artist/graphic designer Orion Landau, who does most of Wayfinder’s labels, created the artwork for the album then adapted it for the can.

Extremely Stable Genius Double Hazy IPA

Level Beer (Northeast Portland)

Level Beer's Extremely Stable Genius Double Hazy IPADave Killen/Staff

This can is a progression from Level’s original Stable Genius Hazy IPA. Here is what designer Jeremy Backer tells us about the latest version: “For Extremely, we wanted to riff off the quote where Trump doubled down on his original ‘Stable Genius’ quote, calling himself an ‘Extremely Stable Genius.’ The success of the original label was based on its simplicity and immediate recognition so we didn't want to stray too far from what was already working. We took our iconic design from the original Stable Genius Hazy IPA and made it as gaudy and ridiculous as possible for the Imperial version. Trump mudflap pins and loud suit jacket seemed to do the trick.” Backer does all the labels for Level and works with illustrator Veronica Casson on the more illustrative ones, he says.

Kill the Sun Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Coffee and Chocolate

Ex Novo Brewing (North Portland)

Ex Novo Brewing's Kill the Sun Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Coffee and ChocolateDave Killen/Staff

And we have another Jeremy Backer sighting. Though he does freelance work on Level Beer’s can labels and designed their brand from the ground up, his main gig is being the full-time creative director at Ex Novo Brewing. This year the brewery moved the three versions of Kill the Sun – Classic, Mocha and and Horchata -- from bottles to cans. “We used a color coding system to differentiate the three beers, and kept everything else super simple,” Backer says. “With a name like Kill the Sun, it only made sense to make them as dark as possible. Matte black with metallic gold lettering for the coffee and chocolate nod, and simplistic design helped give the beer a premium feel and just looks pretty badass overall.”

Night Howler Imperial Stout

Baerlic Brewing (Southeast Portland)

Baerlic Brewing's Night Howler Imperial StoutDave Killen/Staff

Baerlic’s graphics are fun, eclectic and bold, and they’re all the creation of Ben Parsons, who founded Baerlic with partner Richard Hall in 2014. Parsons’ previous career was in graphic design, specifically specializing in branding/identity design. He has this to say about the Night Howler can: “Graphically, the Night Howler design was inspired by mid-century B Horror movie titles, whereas the name itself is an homage to a great band called The Doomriders — they have a short soundscape song titled Night Howler.”

Love Potion Number 9 Stout with Chocolate & Marionberries

Block 15 Brewing (Corvallis)

Block 15 Brewing's Love Potion Number 9 Stout with Chocolate & MarionberriesDave Killen/Staff

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, comes this darkly romantic, blood-red-and-pink offering from Corvallis’ Block 15. The can was designed by Block 15 marketing director Seth Stelling, who says this: “The idea was one that I brainstormed on with one of our brewers — our barrel manager Garrison Schmidt. It features a bottle of ‘love potion’ (filled with the beer) and a marionberry, with the (hopefully obvious) reference here being the classic song from The Clovers written in 1959.” Block 15 usually works with external designers for its label artwork, but Stelling says “LP9 just happened to be a project that I had a vision for early on in the planning process.”

Folkvangr Dark Norwegian-style Ale

Little Beast Brewing (Southeast Portland)

Little Beast Brewing's Folkvangr Dark Norwegian-style AleDave Killen/Staff

Independent designer Andy Morris brought this elegant sage green can to life for Little Beast, just as he has been doing for the Southeast Portland brewery since it opened in 2017. The name of this dark Norwegian-style ale references Folkvangr, a meadow in Norse mythology where half who die in combat go upon their death, while the other half go to Valhalla. Co-founder Brenda Crow says the name was inspired by the Norwegian strain of brewing yeast, kveik, used in this beer. “The visual reference to feathers is inspired by the goddess and ruler of Fólkvangr, Freyja, who wears a cloak of falcon feathers. Freyja is always given the first choice among the brave warriors. Thus, the swords,” Crow says. Adds Morris: “I was immediately drawn to the idea of the falcon feathers juxtaposed against swords, not only because it expresses some of the duality associated with Freyja, but also helps to create a sort of ‘Nordic Rapture’ scene.”

Hindsight 2020 Hazy IPA

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Southeast Portland)

Hopworks Urban Brewery's Hindsight 2020 Hazy IPADave Killen/Staff

Hopworks recently updated much of its branding, and the powder blue skull and spooky eyes on this can illustrate the new, graphic-forward direction. Hindsight 2020 was designed by Hopworks’ marketing coordinator Jamie Probert, who says this: “I do a lot of India ink and watercolor artwork on the side and I thought that the same concept would translate well onto a beer can. I enjoy the bold black outline of the object contrasting with bright colors for the background; I think it makes for a fun design.” Probert says Hindsight 2020 is her first Hopworks label but she looks forward to designing more labels this year.

Magnetic Fields IPA

Fort George Brewery (Astoria)

Fort George Brewery's Magnetic Fields IPADave Killen/Staff

“Fort George has the coolest cans,” says my work neighbor, transportation reporter and craft beer enthusiast Andrew Theen. And right he is. Aesthetics and imaginative design are clearly important to the respected Astoria brewery, and its cans reflect that. From the winter-forest royal couple gracing Magnanimous IPA, to the serpent on Suicide Squeeze, the graphics are innovative and striking. The Magnetic Fields can, with its colorful wavelengths, inspires thoughts of the auroras, with compass points at the heart. Fort George’s website says it best: “IPA tastes can be polarizing. But Magnetic Fields brings North, South, East, and West together with the irresistible force of lupulin ecstasy.”

GET INSIDER BEER NEWS VIA TEXT: Want to come to the #FakeBrewsIPA release party in February, get a free pint, and get text alerts from Andre about all things Portland and Oregon beer. Sign up now through this limited promotion. You’ll not only get that pint of #FakeBrews IPA, you’ll also be among the first to know about future new releases, new breweries and new trends across the city and state. And the best part? This is a two-way street. What do you want Andre to look into next? Need beer recommendations? He’s there for you, just sign up here.

-- Andre Meunier

Check out Andre’s beer reviews on Untappd, where he’s andremeunier13, and follow him on Instagram, where he’s @oregonianbeerguy.

More beer coverage: