Beverage & Brewpub Branding
I've enjoyed applying my product naming experience and creative writing chops to craft beer projects on multiple occasions.
I teamed with Canadian boutique agency Hired Guns Creative to name beer releases and write label copy for their client Driftwood Brewery.
Driftwood was brewing a unique Swedish Folkol (or "table beer"), and wanted to echo ancient Norse legend in the design. They asked that the label copy align with the poetic style of their existing packaged brews, but left the execution to us. They needed a name, too.
Hired Guns' art directors and I brainstormed Norse-inspired artwork and I pitched a concept of mythical female figures paired with an evocative name combining elements of Norse lore, Swedish language, and refreshing beer color.
Meet Goldynwell, one of Driftwood's "core" canned offerings.
The label copy I proposed, above the bar code, gracefully married all these elements:
“Since time immemorial, each mortal fortune we three’ve foretold;
All love, luck, and lust we’ve drawn from Uror’s gilded depths.
Human destiny is but a drink we’ve poured and tasted tenfold:
Tropical tinges, vibrant zest—tamest liquid of wondrous breadth.”
Driftwood adopted the proposed name and ultimately edited the poem for space.
Driftwood was naming a new milk stout after Oumuamua, the first interstellar object to pass through our solar system, and needed label design and copy. Hired Guns and I developed a story that drove both endeavors: Oumuamua was an alien craft, and its beings had created humankind.
My label poem:
“Forever caressed by blackest space, the hurtling megalith returns—
Earthlings' prodigal creator in dense, velvet-wrapped disguise.
Its secret pilots seek adulation, sweet desolation, eternal cold burn;
Sapiens' myths rewritten when revealed the cosmic truth inside.”
Oumuamua is one of Driftwood’s special bottled releases.
Oumuamua, with its shimmering text, featuring my label copy.
Camp Colvos Brewing asked me to draft label copy for their Mon Frere Saison, which would feature art from Seattle mural legend Henry, seen here. Colvos' founder wanted the words to allude to both peace (conveyed in Henry's imagery and in the beer's palate) and complexity (in the grain bill and our tricky times). It was an inspiring task.
My label copy echoed the beer's character and underscored the tone set with Henry's contemplating monk/saint:
"The call to become our best selves may be in the voices of others, the songs of birds, the bright sigh of effervescence. It can be so close, yet fall on deaf ears. This saison, a delicately fruity, spicy brew, reminds us that we rise higher when listening for peace in each moment. Do you hear?"
Camp Colvos Brewing bottled a special brett saison christened "In the Fullness of Time." The kaleidoscopic label would suggest depth, harmony, and renewal, and the brewery founder sought accompanying copy that thoughtfully spoke to such themes. I got to work.
With the founder's desire—and more real estate—for lengthier copy, I married a hopeful sentiment with recipe details beer lovers would appreciate:
"Clock hands make their rounds ceaselessly, but it's hope that truly keeps us going. Hope for a redolent new spring. Hope for vivid bouquets, perfectly ripe pie cherries, and clear paths ahead. This saison embodies our vital hopes of late, coming to fruition with pilsner, 2-row, and white wheat malts from Great Western Malts, German Noble hops, and a Brettanomyces imperial yeast strain (among others). We then aged the promising brew in Novelty Hill chardonnay barrels for a year, rounding out its character. Now hope is dawning all around, and we raise our glass to you tasting that sweet clarity for seasons to come."
Vashon Brewing needed a hand naming a summer beer release. Given the beer’s style (pale ale) and the owners’ enthusiasm for water recreation, I pitched the winning “Paddle Break Pale Ale.”
The name evoked both refreshment and Vashon Island’s natural surroundings and interests.
I was tasked by Restaurants Unlimited to evangelize the Henry’s Tavern concept via a glossy coffee table-style book to be shared with potential franchise investors. The high-end piece needed to document, strengthen, and ultimately expand the Henry's brand.
My art director partner and I zeroed in on the elements that made Henry’s restaurants unique, along with the individual character of each existing location. I wove aspirational sentiments through factual descriptions—and around vivid, evocative photography—to tell a convincing story: Henry's equals hip hotspot.
The book impressed its intended beholders, helping seal a San Francisco property deal.
