Abita's New Orleans Inspired Packaging Refresh

In celebration of their 30 year Anniversary, Louisiana-based craft brewery Abita unveils a packaging refresh of their flagship, seasonal and harvest series beers. 

The brewery, which has a deep connection to the Louisiana and New Orleans culture and lifestyle was looking for graphics to reflect its heritage.

"Our new look is inspired by the art, culture, history and colors of New Orleans. The personality of the city is showcased through eccentric new characters and quintessential New Orleans scenes depicted on the packaging." - David Blossman, President

The flagship Amber, Strawberry Lager and Purple haze designs are expect to hit shelves this month, with others releasing throughout 2016.

Design Trends in Beer: Metallics

A technique known as foil stamping has long been used as a way of elevating a printed piece – from business cards to posters and packaging. Like any other industry beer, cider, wine and spirits look for ways to celebrate a special release packaging, or elevate a cool design. As printing techniques improve, more options have become available to achieve a premium metallic feel. We'll walk you through the differences and show some of our favorite examples.

The Techniques:
Foil Stamping
Foil is adhered directly to the label using a combination of heat and pressure. Foil can also be used in conjunction with embossing. They can be metallic, clear gloss or even special effect or patterning. Foil stamping is not only reflective but also textural in appearance. Foils are more durable and have a longer lifespan than ink.

Metallic Ink
Metallic inks can be printed directly to the labels or mixed with Pantone colors to create a shimmery appearance. Because they are mixed inks, this technique offers a wide range of colors (the Pantone Matching System has over 1000 distinctive inks) and is more cost effective than foil. Inks provide a subtle metallic finish rather than being reflective like foil and is a great way to create a layered effect, rather than flashy. They are most effective for fine detail.

Metallic Substrates
Designs can be printed on labels or paper board that have a metallic base coat. The inks themselves will not appear metallic (although a gloss coat is typically applied for sheen), but any exposed areas will. The ability to print direct to beer cans offers a great opportunity to utilize the natural metals as part of the design. 

What does it communicate?
The presence of precious metals communicates luxury and achievement. Gold is associated with wealth, grandeur and prosperity. Silver is associated with industrial, sleek, high-tech and modern.

Fleeting or enduring?
Let's be honest, people love bling. Gold and silver have, and probably always will represent our idea of "premium." And with a range of options to achieve a metallic look, including metallic wax dipping bottles, we don't see this trend going anywhere.

Below is a collage of examples we found particularly interesting. Have thoughts, drop us a line!



Interested in more design trends? Check out our previous posts:
Design Trends in Beer: Line Craft

Design Trends in Beer: Line Craft

Over the past year we've seen a pretty significant showing in the design and branding world of a technique described as mono-line or line craft. It is defined by a consistent pen stroke throughout the illustration or logo. This style, which has been a popular way of illustrating infographics is making a strong appearance in craft beer, cider and kombucha graphics.

What does it communicate?
When diving deeper into what attracts craft brands to this particular visual aesthetic, we found the following words used to describe their brands: Precision, care, pride, craftsmanship, passion, commitment to quality, balance, consistency

Fleeting or enduring?
This style has quite a bit of range in how it is executed, from very technical and pragmatic to hand-drawn and expressive. With an ability to communicate many things – and provide significant clarity and readability at shelf – we think line craft has some longevity in the category.

Below is a collage of examples we found particularly interesting. Have thoughts, drop us a line!

Design Deconstruction: Deschutes Brewery's Rebranding

Over the past few months Deschutes Brewery has been subtly hinting at new label graphics on social media. They're finally excited to announce that NEW packaging is hitting the shelves as we speak! All of the brewery’s bottles, cartons, and tap handles will be sporting the new, updated look which was designed to better reflect the quality of the beer inside, as well as increase shelf presence and display impact. The presence of the Deschutes Brewery branding is also more prominent to help pull together a family of brands that has evolved over the past 27 years.


The design change was spurred in part to help improve brand awareness and better stand out in an increasingly crowded category. Each brand has its own unique color palette and custom typeface, with the Deschutes logo (and neck label on bottles) in black for the mainline and seasonal brands, and red for the Bond Street Series. The classic illustrations associated with each brand have been retained and refined in the new design to further highlight each beer’s individuality.

“As the craft beer segment continues to grow, and we continue to expand, it’s critical that we stand out on the shelf and reinforce our brand. We’ve incorporated many key elements in the new design that should help us achieve this goal. We are excited to hear what our fans think about the new look!” - Jeff Billingsley, Director of Marketing

The round holding shape and reversed type creates more impact from a distance and is easily adaptable for multiple applications. The mountain illustration was updated to emphasize the hand drawn qualities.

Watercolor-style illustrations were maintained with some warmth added to the color palette and break out of the oval shape to cover more label area. Beer names are easier to read on a straight baseline and have beer specific personality. Consistent placement of the Deschutes branding creates visual blocking and product awareness at shelf level.

In an effort to increase brand awareness around the country, Deschutes created an "outdoor pub of epic proportions." Their custom 400 sq.ft. portable "Street Pub" is on a 7 city tour over 7 months, with 100% of proceeds from pint sales go directly to each city's Boys and Girls Club. 

In addition to the new logo and graphics, they have also launched a beautiful new website, so get on over there and check it out!

6 Design Observations from the Craft Beer Aisle

We were recently approached by the folks at Top Hat IMC, a Marketing and PR firm in Philadelphia, to write a guest blog post on craft beer label design. We happily obliged and welcomed the opportunity to explore, from a Nationwide perspective, the current design trends and best practices taking place in the craft beer industry.

For the full story click here.

Designs That Shine: February

In a new blog series "Designs That Shine" we'll be highlighting new label designs to hit the market that we've identify as some best in class examples of strong branding and expressive story telling. One cannot argue that design is a subjective matter and these are merely our opinions, however we hope that it will engage discussions around the importance of brand presence and inspire out of the box thinking. One thing we can say with confidence is that consumers both appreciate and respond to the time it takes to be creative in a fast moving and competitive market. 

Indeed Brewing Company (MN), Let It Ride IPA. This Minneapolis based brewery collaborates with a local artist Chuck U, who's highly illustrative, story book-like style immediately draws you in. Canning their beers allow them to utilize the full 360 canvas for story telling. The whimsy and optimistic label designs are an extension of their mantra - "to tout the positive side of things, and embrace mindfulness and adventure—a feeling we’ve found plenty of here in Minnesota." Even their logo has a hint of a smile, speaking to the happiness and fun they want to share with their customers.

Goose Island Brewing Company (IL), The Illinois, Imperial IPA. The first beer in the 2014 Imperial Beer series is named after a skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1950's. If it had been built "The Mile High Illinois" would still be Chicago's tallest building. The label design of The Illinois is inspired by the linear yet organic nature of Wright's design aesthetic.
Two Roads Brewing Company (CT), Rye 95. New England based Two Roads gives a light hearted nod to the many roads in life and take the "road less traveled" approach to the way they design and craft their beers. Rye 95 is no exception - the label is inspired by the twists and turns this complex, seasonal hybrid ale takes you on. 
Hangar 24 Brewery (CA), California Spring Beer. The California Spring Beer is being re-released as a seasonal offering, with updates to the Hanger 24 branding. Located in the air fields of Southern California, this is a brewery that takes a 360 approach to integrating their vintage industrial aesthetic from the taproom through to their website, festival displays and World's Fair poster style label art. We highly recommend following them on instagram.

Daredevil Brewing Co (IN), J.W.P. American Stout. Daredevil's brand is committed to producing "eclectic, aggressively fun craft beer" as well as design. J.W.P. Stout, recently released as their Anniversary beer, is inspired by the "wild west" with a simple, iconic approach quite different from the woodcut-style illustrated flagship beers Lift Off IPA and Rip Cord IPA. The design strikes the balance of creative confidence but the link to western pioneer, John Wesley Powell is still a bit of a mystery. Check out some of their other artwork.

*Update: we received correspondence from Shane at Daredevil with the meaning behind JWP Stout, which stands for John Wayne Pudding. You can read more here.

4 Hands Brewing Presents a Uniquely Inspired Event

This Saturday, January 11th 4 Hands Brewing presents a unique opportunity to meet many of the the artists and label designers impacting the local craft beer scene in a charity event benefitting the Public Media Institute (PMI). The event will take place at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, IL from 3-7pm.

A special selection of craft beer will be provided by 3 Floyds, Half Acre, Pipeworks, Solemn Oath and 4 Hands Brewing along side of food pairings from Pleasant House Bakery. St. Louis based brewery 4 Hands, who only started distributing to Chicago as of this month, will be launching 7 beers at this event.

The event will feature work from the following artists:
Dan Grzeca - 3 Floyds, Surly Brewing
Michael Kiser - Good Beer Hunting
Jourdon Gullett - Solemn Oath
Jim Zimmer - 3 Floyd's, Une Année
BJ Olson - Pipeworks
Phineas X. Jones - Half Acre Beer

Josh Rowan - 4 Hands Brewing
Danielle Spradley - 4 Hands Brewing
Peat Eyez Wollaeger - graffiti artist from St. Louis
Kelly Pelka - graffiti artist from Chicago

Participants will receive a free copy of Mash Tun Journal as well as have the opportunity to purchase artwork including signed copies of the event poster featured above.

January 11, 3-7pm
Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219-21 South Morgan Street, Chicago Illinois, 60608
Tickets are $25 and are available at coprosperity.org


PMI is a non-profit 501(c) 3, community based, art & culture organization located in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago. Its mission is to create, incubate and sustain innovative cultural programming through the production of socially engaged projects, art festivals, spaces, exhibitions and media.