3 Tips for Building Your Craft Brewery’s Brand

In 2021, craft brewer volume sales were up 8% – meaning that an increasing number of small, independent brewers are now succeeding with their business. So, if you’ve long had a dream of producing your own beer, there’s never been a better moment to take the leap. In this article, you’ll find three valuable tips to getting your beer business off to a great start. Happy brewing!

What’s Your Brewery’s Specialty?

For many brewers, this comes pretty naturally – but if you’re still dappling in every beer type known to man without yet having perfected one, you may want to pick a focus. This doesn’t have to be permanent. Once you’ve hit the jackpot with e.g. a signature stout or IPA and it’s a hit with consumers, there’s plenty of room to expand your selection. But you have to make a mark first with an expertly crafted beer that’s uniquely yours – and you won’t achieve that with a too wide selection of average beers.

A Business Name That Sets the Tone

Many postpone naming their brewery to settle their visual identity and flavor profile first. But by doing so, you miss the chance to go all in on your concept. For instance: Let’s say Flying Dog Brewery settled on a generic flavor profile and an old-fashioned visual style before figuring out their name. In this case, their iconic moniker would’ve never been able to seep through every aspect of the brewery’s look, flavor and identity the way it did. At best, they might’ve slapped it on last-minute without taking much inspiration from it – or they might have shelved it entirely, since it wouldn’t fit their already established brand.

Choosing a business name is a great exercise because it forces you to put your values and uniqueness into words. If you’re out of ideas, a guide to ideal beer business names might help. This will narrow down your long list of keywords describing your business into a single concise, catchy business name – helping you find an identity and stick to it.

Spark Consumer Curiosity With Your Labels

Your next step is, of course, designing some eye-catching, on-brand packaging for your beers. Depending on the name you’ve chosen for your business, certain imagery might naturally lend itself to label designs. If not, it’s time to get out your list of keywords again. Which colors, shapes, symbols and textures do you associate with the words you’ve chosen? Or are you planning on giving each of your individual beers unique, signature names? In that case, why not go all the way and give each of them signature looks?

No matter how much effort you put into the flavor, packaging still has a huge effect on consumers’ choice of beer. So, if you take extra care to craft beautiful, funny, cool or otherwise visually appealing labels, you might just see your sales go up drastically. Whatever you choose, make sure it stays true to your brand and values – and doesn’t appropriate or make fun of anyone's culture.

And the branding efforts don’t stop once the products are on the shelves: Your identity should shine through all the way from your SoMe interactions to your campaigns. Going back to our Flying Dog Brewery example, they recently participated in Banned Book Week. This shows that they don’t just put on a rebellious image – they’re genuinely committed to supporting freedom of expression. If you want consumers to take you seriously, don’t just talk the talk – walk the walk.