Tag Archives: packaging

Man Cave: Craft Brewers Collaborate to make 1 Beer

Beer / June 13, 2016 / No Comments.

American Craft Beer Week is something to celebrate every year, as it is not only an event but has also become a movement. This past May, a beer was brewed and packaged with around 4,490 brewery names on the can. This brew consists of the same recipe that more than 100 craft breweries use.

This movement was formed for Paul Ogg, who was diagnosed with cancer last March. He is a teacher, a father, a husband and a partner at the Declaration Brewery. His partner in the business, Mike Blanford, proposed reaching out to Denver, Colorado to promote the concept of honoring Paul for all the influential marks he has made in the Denver beer community.

They brewed up Paul’s version of the porter, which is has flavors similar to Heath, Paul’s favorite candy. This beer has aromas of chocolate and toffee and is balanced with a smoky malt and a subtle amount of hops. The idea was spread to all the breweries around the country and each one has taken the recipe and made it with their own personal altercations.

Support the movement and help spread the message of Making Small Beer Great Again!

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Man Cave: Brooklyn Brewery’s New Look

Man Cave / May 9, 2016 / No Comments.

After 28 years, our friends at Brooklyn Brewery are giving their packaging a little update. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to pick it out at the packie. In fact – it’ll probably be easier to find.
To get their fresh look, the brewery turned to Milton Glaser who created the original logo back when they launched in 1987. He knows the values of the brand and respects that beautiful B we all know and love. With that in mind, he updated the packaging to create a cohesive and clean look that links all of the brews together on the shelf.
New breweries are popping up every day with crazy logos and labels. The old standbys need to stand out if they want to compete. The best way to do that is by following Brooklyn’s lead with eye-catching color…making great beer doesn’t hurt either.

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The End of the World As We Know It

Beer / October 25, 2014 / 1 Comment.

A team of brewers is claiming that they have reached “the end of beer” with their newest creation—The End of History. BrewDog, located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland was started in 2007 by two friends who were tired of the industrialized, uninteresting beers flooding the market. This brewery is known for more than just good craft beer. They pride themselves on experimenting with extreme ABV brews and some equally outlandish marketing and advertising.

In 2009, James Watt and Martin Dickey created the first of their “limited edition, crazy high ABV beers”: Tactical Nuclear Penguin. At the time, it was the strongest beer in the world at 32% ABV. Beating the previously held world record once wasn’t enough for Watt and Dickie. In 2010, they released Sink the Bismark! a quadruple IPA weighing in at 41% ABV. To give you some context, most whiskeys are bottled at 40—46% ABV so BrewDog recommends you drink these beers slowly and in small amounts, like you would a good scotch.

The BrewDog team’s newest limited edition beer—The End of History—is, as the name suggests, their final foray into high ABV brews. At 55% ABV, this brew is already toeing the line of insanity, but BrewDog decided to jump feet first over that line. Their site states: “This blond Belgian ale is infused with nettles from the Scottish Highlands and Fresh juniper berries…each comes with its own certificate and is presented in a stuffed stoat or grey squirrel. The striking packaging was created by a very talented taxidermist and all the animals used were road kill. This release is a limited run of 11 bottles, 7 stoats and 4 grey squirrels. Each ones comes with its own certificate of authenticity.”

We’re all for creative concoctions and inventive flavors, but we wonder if the team at BrewDog have been sampling a few too many of their creations. What do you think—creative advertising or jumping the shark? Or in this case, jumping the stoat?

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Our Favorite New Packaging Picks

Beer / October 8, 2014 / No Comments.

With a new season comes new packaging for brands worldwide. We love when brands change up their label and/or container design for something more visually dynamic; there’s never anything wrong with mixing things up a bit. Still, there have been plenty of bottle makeovers, some of which we believe are more innovative and eye-catching than others. Let’s take a look:

Pernod Ricard:
This fall, Pernod Ricard’s Dead Bolt wine will take on quite the remodeled bottle. Partnering with renowned tattoo artist, David Hale, the company plans to release a new limited edition label design sometime this month (and will be available throughout December). Appearing on Dead Bolt’s 2013 Winemaker’s Red Blend (originating from California), the special packaging marks the brand’s first artistic partnership.

Miller Lite:
As you probably already know, MillerCoors’ Miller Lite has been running a campaign focused around the vintage feel the brew offers its consumers. Because of the promotion’s expanding popularity, the company decided to give a makeover to its classic can by returning to its original 1970’s appearance. Starting this fall, Miller Lite will re-introduce their retro design across all packaging designs and marketing materials. This way, with every sip you’ll be able to reminisce not only about your past, but also about the brand’s history and authenticity.

Vino Pinto Punto:
This brand has created an extra-special drinking experience in collaboration with designer, Xisco Barcelo. Each bottle features interactive packaging, where the label in itself is a game of “connect the dots.” Generating images such as fish, flowers, a face, etc., the label design is up to consumers’ participation. While you finish a bottle of Vino Pinto Punto wine, you can have fun by finishing the final look of the label design.

Do you know of other unique packaging designs premiering this season? Tell us about it below!

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New & Fairly Noteworthy

Our Stories / January 3, 2013 / No Comments.

Entourage’s main man Adrian Grenier has introduced his own beer, Churchkey, to the East Coast. The beer comes in an old-fashioned flat topped can with no pull tab. To open the bright blue container you need a special tool, appropriately named a churchkey. Clever right? We thought so. Kudos Adrian, we’re excited to hear how the East Coast responds to your brew debut.
Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co. has announced their newest seasonal flavors. As if they don’t offer enough fruity flavors already they are providing us with Mike’s Hard Blood Orange. This flavor should be a bit more tart than their others, so we’re interested to see how it will compare. They’re also trying something completely new with their Mike’s Shandy, a combination of their hard lemonade recipe and lager. We love a good pairing, so sign us up.

Italian design company Pininfarina is in cahoots with Chivas Brothers. They’re designing a series of limited edition Chivas 18-year-old scotch bottles. The first design in the series has a metallic blue case and comes with a veneer that’s supposed to remind the drinker of the oak casks where they age the Chivas 18. The whole package comes with a bottle and 2 glasses. We have yet to see pictures of the design, but keep an eye out for it.

Say What? A Follow Up on Medea’s LED Label

Our Stories / July 28, 2011 / 3 Comments.

Back in January, we talked up Medea Spirit’s new LED bottle design by way of a caption contest. In case you missed it, this vodka bottle comes with instructions: you can program up to six messages of up to 255 characters each that scrolls around bottle, Times Square-style.

This gimmick…um, innovation…has earned the brand big awards — mostly for the design, not necessarily what’s inside (though it’s very good, too). But we can’t tell how well this concept sells. We’ve heard gripes about the price (about $40), but that’s about it.

This is where you come in. If you’ve proposed, apologized, celebrated or otherwise with this nifty gadget as your messenger, go ahead and spill it — in our comments section, that is.

Hello. My Name Is: Bud.

Our Stories / June 16, 2011 / No Comments.

We knew this time would come: the era of beer bottles with “features and benefits.” When you’ve marketed the hell out of the stuff inside, turn to the outside — the candy coating, the get-up.

Budweiser has done just that with its limited-time “Make Your Mark” labels, which rock a small white area you can use to write whatever you want. Just use a coin, a key, or anything sharp. Because…pencil and paper are hard to find?

Not sure what problem Anheuser-Busch is trying to solve here. Were people trying to put sticky notes on their beer bottles, but the condensation kept them from sticking? Do that many people “misplace” their beer so that it needs an i.d. tag? Is this an effective way to count the number of “bottles of beer on the wall” so we don’t over imbibe?

As far as we know, neither the label nor the write-in area peel off so you can bring someone’s phone number home with you. So that’s not the big “aha.”

While we scratch our heads over this “innovation,” we’d love to hear how you use your Make Your Mark label — or how you don’t use it.

If bars were patroned by toddlers, this might be genius. They lose everything. But anyone over 21 should be able to both say what they need to say, and keep track of their brew.

Coming soon: a “smart bottle” that beeps when you clap so you can find it in a crowded room. (Kidding, but we wouldn’t be surprised.)

The Magic of Vodka

Our Stories / May 31, 2011 / No Comments.

We occasionally drink Absolut so we’re familiar with its magic. But Absolut’s latest Illusion bottle brings a different kind of magic, calling consumers to ‘Embrace the Unexpected’.

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As you turn the bottle around, you see an illusion of Absolut logo floating in the vodka inside of the bottle, which becomes possible due to magnifying and mirroring effect of the liquid. As you tilt the bottle sideways, the logo seems to move from left to right. The designer’s intention was to make the consumer look behind the face value, gaze deeper inside and marvel at the essence of the product.

The initial launch was May 1 with a worldwide launch to follow shortly.

We have a feeling this could get a bit trippy after a few Absolut cocktails. Your thoughts on the bottle?

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