Belhaven has re-branded and relaunched its craft beer range. The move comes as sales of craft beer go from strength to strength. Says Gordon Muir, Marketing Manager at Belhaven, “ Belhaven is a proudly Scottish brewery. In fact we are Scotland’s oldest brewery. We needed our rebrand to reflect this. Yet the rise of craft beer is an opportunity for breweries like us – who have been in business since 1719 – to reach a new, younger drinker. So, it was essential that this brand had a contemporary feel, and avoided the easy clichés of Scottishness.”
The rebrand, carried out by Ziggurat Brands, aimed to convey the spirit of Scotland without resorting to tartan and thistles? They were also tasked with capturing the essence of this gritty, proud brand from Dunbar on the salt-sprayed, wind-whipped East Coast of Scotland. Ziggurat introduced the brewery’s iconic maltings chimneys into the label design. “That was the touch of genius that sparked the process to life,” says Muir. “It creates a distinctive, crest-shaped image that we can use across the range. Not everyone will know the story behind this, but it invites drinkers to read more about the heritage of the brewery on the label, building a story and mythology around it which is still proudly Belhaven.”
The names of the beers such as Twisted Thistle, play to the Scottish no-nonsense, caustic sense of humour and this is accentuated by the hand-drawn illustrations, the three-word descriptions of flavour on each bottle, and the vivid colours used to distinguish each variant.
This is a brand which works not only on label but across the full range of point of sale materials from pump clips to beer mats and towels, and even t-shirts.
Belhaven gives craft beer range a rebrand
