Ontario brewery re-branding: who's done a good job?

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:50 am

In the past 6 months, some of Ontario's breweries have re-branded. Not sure if I'm missing anyone.

Great Lakes (both bottles and cans of their new launches)
Amsterdam (416, Natural Blonde and their new logo)
Wellington (all cans look the same but are different colours)

just wondering how people feel about the re-branding or re-boots? any one like a specific brewery's re-design in particular?

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:18 pm

Well Grand River no longer looks like it's brewed by small children. Which is good.

I think GLB's silk-screened bombers can look very Rogue-ish. I'm talking the Oregeon brewery that pumps out Dead Guy and Brutal IPA. Not complaining though, GLB Bitter Wife looks great.

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 2:28 pm

Belgian wrote:Well Grand River no longer looks like it's brewed by small children. Which is good.

I think GLB's silk-screened bombers can look very Rogue-ish. I'm talking the Oregeon brewery that pumps out Dead Guy and Brutal IPA. Not complaining though, GLB Bitter Wife looks great.

They also did a nice job on their 25th anniversary stuff, although in a very different way.

lister · Post by **lister** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:30 pm

Black Oak.
Lake of Bays.

Grand River still looks bad. Maybe not small children anymore but 13 year olds. My brother-in-law, who is a brand designer and has won awards for his packaging, has tried to see if they're interested in a design that looks like it was made by an adult but GR wasn't interested. That feeling became mutual after a visit to the brewery and casually chatting with an employee there.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:42 pm

lister wrote:Black Oak.
Lake of Bays.

Grand River still looks bad. Maybe not small children anymore but 13 year olds. My brother-in-law, who is a brand designer and has won awards for his packaging, has tried to see if they're interested in a design that looks like it was made by an adult but GR wasn't interested. That feeling became mutual after a visit to the brewery and cassually chatting with an employee there.

how long ago was this?

lister · Post by **lister** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:57 pm

matt7215 wrote:how long ago was this?

Early summer.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:42 pm

lister wrote:Grand River-My brother-in-law, who is a brand designer and has won awards for his packaging, has tried to see if they're interested in a design that looks like it was made by an adult but GR wasn't interested.

Incredible because in contrast to Grand River, the tiny Bellwoods Brewery does amazing, almost 'collectible art' graphic labels for even their small runs and one-offs. Why can't GR see the merit in good product image I wonder. I still love them though.

Certain Trafalgar beers no longer look like a novice home brew but they may still taste that way.

nickw · Post by **nickw** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:19 pm

The fact that you can buy t-shirts and framable prints of Bellwoods' labels (and people are buying them) shows that they're also missing out on potential revenue (and brand expansion).

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:21 pm

I think Nickel Brook deserves mention in here.

They had possibly the most unappealing labels in Ontario and they've slowly started to change them for the positive.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:12 pm

whomever does the John Galt ale or whatever it's called has the worst labels.
makes my teeth hurt.

saints_gambit · Post by **saints_gambit** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:26 pm

atomeyes wrote:whomever does the John Galt ale or whatever it's called has the worst labels.
makes my teeth hurt.

To be fair though, the product is solid as heck.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:27 pm

lister wrote: Lake of Bays.

Very true. Almost made me want to buy their IPA, but the price still seems pretty high...

And while not RE-brading, per se, I think my favourite "logo", is the Junction Conductor...it's just very stylish and kind of retro. Doesn't hurt that the beer inside is awesome. Really looking forward to them putting something else into the LC.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:41 pm

saints_gambit wrote:
atomeyes wrote:whomever does the John Galt ale or whatever it's called has the worst labels.
makes my teeth hurt.
To be fair though, the product is solid as heck.

to be honest, and call me vain, but that label disgusts me so much that i've never been remotely inclined to buy it.
it is THAT ugly.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:21 pm

JeffPorter wrote: And while not RE-brading, per se, I think my favourite "logo", is the Junction Conductor...it's just very stylish and kind of retro. Doesn't hurt that the beer inside is awesome. Really looking forward to them putting something else into the LC.

+1. Best beer branding in Ontario, period.

I also agree Great Lakes and Nickel Brook have both improved greatly, and think (sorry, haters) that Beau's does a very good job.

beanmedic · Post by **beanmedic** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:19 am

Belgian wrote:Well Grand River no longer looks like it's brewed by small children. Which is good.

I think GLB's silk-screened bombers can look very Rogue-ish. I'm talking the Oregeon brewery that pumps out Dead Guy and Brutal IPA. Not complaining though, GLB Bitter Wife looks great.

Okay, I'm missing something. Haven't they always looked like this? http://grandriverbrewing.com/our-beers/ ... und-beers/