The Bar Towel

Wray77 wrote:

Hawks28 wrote:

Wray77 wrote:I was embarrassed to buy it.

Seriously?? Who cares. I bought 5 today without thinking twice. The cashier actually seemed to think the bottle was pretty cool, he even showed it to the cashier on the other side of him. Maybe its just me, but as long as the beer is good, I couldnt care less about the packaging.

No I wasn't serious, but am I alone in thinking this is poor marketing. It's a decent beer, and I want it to have a decent chance. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Molson 67 sublime are looking for this type of thing. I can't help but think that this is just a pale imitation of the funky us craft brews though. Just like when Mr. Robert Simpson morphed into Batshit Insane Monkey Doo brand....I'm sure it's simple flattery, but it strikes me at unauthentic...that said, I have to give credit to FM for creating a somewhat decent IPA I can find relatively easy.

Love the beer, and the label. Same goes for the flying monkey's, err i mean 'Batshit Insane Monkey Doo'. I thought before the robert simpson designs were some of the most drab and plain ones around. I don't get ppl's complaints about someone actually wanting to put an interesting label design out there every now and again, perhaps different from what we've consistently seen in ontario over the last 40+ years. If you want to make your purchase based on simple generic 'name of beer, name of style, pretty single strain of barley resting atop a hop' imagery then you have no better luck decerning your labat blue from your grand river. For ppl making interesting beers that are trying to change the way consumers approach their purchases, then i don't see why marketing and design shouldn't follow the same ethos. I'll admit certain labels certainly don't have to appeal to everyone, but at the same time i don't think the designs need to be chastised cause they don't suit your expectation.

It's about making your product stand out in the sea of products. Before the Flying Monkeys rebrand I was browsing the cold storage at LCBO Queen's Quay and happened upon the Robert Simpson Anti-Gravity Ale. It stuck out like a sore thumb (at the time) and I thought "Hey an American craft brew..." until I really looked at the label. I didn't buy it but the flashy packaging caught my attention and made me stop to look at it.

Yes you want the product inside to be really good and I would pick that over flashy packaging given an either or but once you've got the good product, flashy packaging can only help with the sell.

Usually its the brand with the worst product that tries to blend into the crowd. I'm looking at you amorphous trafalger bottle!

I'm sure you get more of the 'flashy packaging & lack luster product' phenomena in the states just given the shear volume of craft breweries about, but in Ontario I think we're relatively safe thus far. Can anyone think of flashy brands that don't at least stand their own here?
The list isn't even that long i think, as far as innovative packaging goes i could only list:

Flying Monkeys
Great Lakes Miami Weisse & Crazy Canuck (one could argue)
Mad Tom

I dunno that's all i got, it's still early and i haven't had a beer. Any additions?

JohnnyB wrote:Usually its the brand with the worst product that tries to blend into the crowd. I'm looking at you amorphous trafalger bottle!

That's true! I saw the new bottles, picked one up figuring it was from the UK, scrutinized the label and said "Hey, what a minute!" Nice try guys. Anyone brave enough to try the new stock?

I think the Miami Weiss label is great, I am old enough to appreciate the reference which may be part of it. It has a kitschy quality. I have one in my fridge right now that I haven't tried yet. After reading about it I am looking forward to it.

The Muskoka labeling is my favorite right now, it's a little understated but it's still really cool. The flying monkey labels are eye catching and over the top.
The great lakes labels and bottle design are ok, I am not a fan of the different color foil they put over the caps.

The worst label design in Ontario has to go to Grand River IMHO, I am sure there are much better home brew labels out there.

I also tried the Trafalgar ESB that's just hit the shelves, I thought it was pretty tasty although I found it closer to an american pale than an ESB.

I hate the TV show Miami Vice (yes, I'm old enough to remember it) but I love the beer. It's a hoppy wheat beer. What's not to like?

I think Flying Monkeys wins for package design, but Great Lakes does some fun stuff. You can't beat their amusing tap handles for one-offs (Robohop, Miami Vice, etc). Grand River is pretty drab and it's hard to distinguish one of their designs from another, to be honest.

Glad to hear Miami Weiss will be a standard seasonal offering. Maybe I can stop stalking the retail store now.....


nah

i really enjoyed this, more so than Crazy Canuck but I do see its similarities.

for those comparisons to Gumballhead; do they stand or not?

great sessionability at 4.5, could have done without the miami weiss name and branding though. this should be Great Lakes MAIN beer....i'd buy it a ton if it was in cans year round. (hopefully with a different label / name)

heebes wrote:i really enjoyed this, more so than Crazy Canuck but I do see its similarities.

for those comparisons to Gumballhead; do they stand or not?

great sessionability at 4.5, could have done without the miami weiss name and branding though. this should be Great Lakes MAIN beer....i'd buy it a ton if it was in cans year round. (hopefully with a different label / name)

There are similarities to Gumballhead, but Gumballhead is the superior beer.

I have to admit that while I really enjoy the beer, the packaging is a bit of a let down compared to GL's other offerings...I'm just used to the great silk screened bottles...mind you, if the labels help keep the price down more power to them.

The Dunkel Buck packaging is pretty cute with the hat drill and plaid jacket...

Interesting that two of the four releases reference 80s movies or TV...

I was wondering why people were comparing this to the Canuck, but the beer has undergone some significant changes from it's Project X origins. I like both beers, but I would have preferred if they had kept it as a weiss

icemachine wrote:I was wondering why people were comparing this to the Canuck, but the beer has undergone some significant changes from it's Project X origins. I like both beers, but I would have preferred if they had kept it as a weiss

I had it once previously (on tap) so my memory isn't the greatest on this beer but it isn't exactly as I remembered it. It is also remarkably similar to the Canuck, which is a tad disappointing given the lack of product choice that we have in Ontario.

It was originally much closer to something like the Schneider-Aventinus Hopfenweisse as my notes show, and if you look at ratebeer ratings from last year they back that up. Definitely did not start as a krystal weisse and I'm pretty sure they weren't using American Ale yeast back then either

TheSevenDuffs wrote:

heebes wrote:i really enjoyed this, more so than Crazy Canuck but I do see its similarities.

for those comparisons to Gumballhead; do they stand or not?

great sessionability at 4.5, could have done without the miami weiss name and branding though. this should be Great Lakes MAIN beer....i'd buy it a ton if it was in cans year round. (hopefully with a different label / name)

There are similarities to Gumballhead, but Gumballhead is the superior beer.

The Seven Duffs speaks the truth. This beer is very similar to Gumball Head. Love this beer. I didn't even think to be embarrassed about the label. If I could buy a beer that tasted like Dreadnaught, was made in Ontario, and had a label in large pink letters that said "I make love to small animals" I would happily buy it.

JohnnyB wrote:The list isn't even that long i think, as far as innovative packaging goes i could only list:

Flying Monkeys
Great Lakes Miami Weisse & Crazy Canuck (one could argue)
Mad Tom

I dunno that's all i got, it's still early and i haven't had a beer. Any additions?

Beau's!

For the gumballhead comparison, I did hear that this beer was inspired by the Three Floyd's brew, so if there are similarities it would not be surprising.

As a marketing guy, I do find the label a little inconsistent with the rest of the Great Lakes portfolio, which is the only real downer I see. Take a look at established US brands, and you notice themes - Dogfish, Stone, Cleveland's Great Lakes, etc, and it's immediately obvious in the store which bottle on the shelf is part of their stable. This helps promote repeat purchase and encourages people trying out your other options. When you design something like this you need to make sure you don't do so in a vacuum, otherwise you can lose potential customers, as well as failing to build on overall brand recognition and persona. Nice label and AWESOME beer, just my two cents on where it fits.

TheSevenDuffs wrote:

heebes wrote:i really enjoyed this, more so than Crazy Canuck but I do see its similarities.

for those comparisons to Gumballhead; do they stand or not?

great sessionability at 4.5, could have done without the miami weiss name and branding though. this should be Great Lakes MAIN beer....i'd buy it a ton if it was in cans year round. (hopefully with a different label / name)

There are similarities to Gumballhead, but Gumballhead is the superior beer.

is it no longer a Gumballhead clone? (ie amarillo hopped american wheat ale)