It’s been insane. The model of how you run a Cincinnati craft brewery has been flipped on it’s head, and in a lot of ways keeps flipping day by day for our friends in this industry. One thing that has remained (and become even more) important in the middle of all of this is packaged beer. Even in the middle of the chaos, you can’t take your eyes off of a desire to keep pushing things to the next level, which is exactly what West Side Brewing is doing with their new cans, and label redesigns.
Their Packaging Plans
West Side is a really fun brewery (if you didn’t know that already). The personality of the brewery hits on a lot of different cylinders, from a lineup of some really fantastic traditional styles that bellys up to the bar right next to some more “modern” style benders and category pushers that will get the hardcore geeks excited… they’ve got what you want.
This is blatantly obvious when you take a look at their packaged beers. And that’s what this is all about – those packaged beers. West Side is one of those breweries that uses their packaged beer to showcase their brand as much as they do provide beer for folks to take-home. In normal times… when things are open… the cans on your local shelf are designed to bring you into the taproom and spend some time on the West Side, and for that reason, the branding is extremely important.
Redefining The Branding
When I talk about the branding of West Side, I’m not talking about their actual brand. They’ve got that pretty well understood at this point, but as they grow their packaging presence around town – they’re looking to do a few things with their labeling:
- Clarify the brand
- Move from shrink-wrapped cans to labels
- Unify the cans on the shelf
The New Can Designs
The brewery turned to the folks at Brick Solid Brands to help them with the new label art and when you take a look at the new design, I think you’ll see that they’ve nailed it. Brick Solid has been with West Side since the beginning, and I think they have a great grasp on what makes the brewery’s brand work. They maintain that look that you have fallen in love with when it comes to their current design but just defines it a little more clearly. The West Side branding is front and center, with bright bold design and coloring showcasing which beer you’re holding in your hand.
The big move with these new designs will be the move from shrink wrapped cans to labels, which while being more environmentally friendly will also set the brewery up to be a little more “nimble” with their packaging plans, able to package up smaller batches of things.
So… when are you going to see these? Really soon, actually. The first release that is planned to have the new branding hits shelves (and takeout) starting with the release of West Side’s big Triple IPA on Tuesday this week (April 7th).
