Historical Typography Reused in a Contemporary Design

DuClaw Brewing Company is one of my favorite places to eat and drink.  And every time I visit, there's a new beer or a new coaster that has graphic design genius written all over it. The designs are screaming for someone to take a closer look--they're really eye catching. And of course I do. 

One thing I've always noticed is that whoever designs the promotional materials has a great eye for fonts.  The fonts always seem to match the theme, and when multiple fonts are used, they complement each other. 

Here is a screen snippet of their menu, which can also be found as a PDF on their website. 

Notice the words, "THE SWEET".  I categorize it as a historical font because  the first thing that comes to mind are signs from the wild west--say, a saloon or something.  The distressed, weathered appearance adds to the old wild west look, as do the unique serifs.

It's contemporary because, well, it's in a 2010 menu for one.  And, it's angled, giving it a modern "notice me" appearance. It also has some swashes added to the letters, giving it a slightly updated feel.

I wanted to know what this font was.  And because it was a PDF, I got lucky. 

A few years back I discovered a way to find out what the fonts are in some PDF documents. (A little sidetracking here) With a PDF file open in Adobe Reader, go to FILE>PROPERTIES>FONTS (tab). And wal-la, if you're lucky, it'll list the document fonts.

So the font here is called, "Nasty" and I was able to track it down (thanks Google).  It's a free font and can be downloaded from Fonts101.com.  Click here for a direct link to the download page.

I'm a fan of this font and how it has been used.  I'm making a mental note of it's existence in case I need it for a future project.