Introducing Spearhead Brewing Company

Photo by Ross McAuley^{– photo by Ross McAuley}

I thought that my next blog should highlight Spearhead Brewing Company. This is the company my brother started two years ago and it launched last week. The brewery focuses on hand-crafting extreme beers, and boy are they tasty. I have been working evenings and weekends for 2 years designing all the branding – from logo to labels, vans to t-shirts, pens to tap handles, glassware to booth displays. The crush is over now and I am a bit bewildered with the  free time I now have. I feel the need to phone my brother at midnight just for old-times sake.

Dimitri^{Dimitri van Kampen, President of Spearhead Brewing Company – Photo by Ross McAuley}

Most people caution against going into business with family but in this case it worked very well. There were a few bouts of sibling rivalry to keep things interesting but for the most part, my brother, Dimitri was open-minded. I give him full credit for embracing an illustrative approach to the label designs a route most clients are afraid to take due to it being interpretive. Being a new and innovative craft brewery I wanted to visually express the hand-made quality of the beer without looking traditional or old-fashioned. I created bold illustrations to simulate the carved look of block-printing. I added a highlight colour to simulate the look of a print that is slightly off-register to visually communicate "Beer Without Boundaries^TM" which is the Spearhead tagline.

What a crazy few years, I doubt my brother will ever forget them. I wish him and the Spearhead team evry bit of success. I know they have earned it.

http://www.spearheadbeer.com

http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2011/06/spearhead_brewery_pours_its_firs...

Spearhead Maddness^{Spearhead Maddness. The Spearhead team having some fun.}

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