Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at the branding at Starr Hill Brewery with our Marketing & Creative Manager, BJ Swing. This is the first of a weekly series spotlighting the inspiration and process behind our designs. If you like what you see, we have released some of our most popular labels as prints on heavy-weight, uncoated poster paper. Every sale supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Starr Hill will match the funds raised. More info below. Be sure to join our newsletter and follow us on social to stay up-to-date with these posts.

I started working for Starr Hill in mid-2017 and I primarily designed marketing assets and support materials for our sales team and taproom. The brewery had just completed a full brand redesign and I was not yet designing any of the package materials.

Around that time, hazy and juicy IPAs were taking off in the marketplace. Our Brewmaster Robbie O’Cain and the brewing team had been working on various expressions of the New England-style IPAs. We released a few, dialing in the recipe each time. We were close but decided to try out a “juicer” and hazier version through our limited in-and-out release All Access series. This series tends to be low-risk and more experimental from a branding perspective. During the same period, there were many conversations around the team on how we were positioning ourselves and reflective talks on the brand and some future goals. I don’t believe I set out to build a brand at the time, but those conversations were on my mind.

I used this opportunity to create a decorative font. Reflecting on the office conversations, I knew we were looking for another brand and this was an opportunity to workshop a wordmark or new visual direction. I never completed all the characters, but we had settled on a name, so I started there. I had pitched the name Ramble On. There are music allusions, and it also describes the action of never settling and moving forward which was the tone of the team’s discussions. The characters were built with clean geometric shapes and lines to imply motion. The package was a 16oz can so I arranged these characters in a horizontal frame that would be fully visible on the side of the can. Our other packages had primarily organic shapes and rough textures so to add some cohesiveness on the shelf, I overlayed the design with a paper texture we were using on all our artwork and kept the copy and logo layout. I vividly recall crafting this design on a snowy day in the early months of that year. Being stuck indoors did allow me to get lost in the design process.

Ramble On IPA was originally released in the Spring of 2019 and the feedback was incredible. The beer performed extremely well in the market and was instantly a best seller in our taprooms. Ramble On did so well, that we decided to expand the packaging to 6-packs and make it a year-round product. To clarify its position in our lineup, we tweaked the name to Ramble On Juicy IPA. Reformatting a 16 oz. can label to a 6-pack had its own challenges. I had to work backward to build out a brand identity and the supporting assets we would need for a new brand launch. Ramble On quickly jumped to our second most popular offering and nearly 100,000 cases have rolled out of the brewery.

In 2020, I was honored with two awards for the design. An American Inhouse Design Awards from Graphic Design USA and a Gold Crushie for Best Bottle Package Design from the Craft Beer Marketing Awards. Both for Ramble On packaging and Identity.

The brewery was discussing a new direction for our beer labels and artwork. We began working on a packaging refresh for 2021 and it was Ramble On, with its new identity and vision, that set the framework for that direction.

If you are interested in a print of the Ramble On artwork, they are available in the brewery’s online shop. Your purchase supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. If you would like to learn more or donate to my campaign directly, you can visit https://finest.cff.org/Charlottesville/bjswing.

Have a question or want to drop me a note? You can contact me here.

Cheers!

The sales from this event will be donated directly to the CF Foundation, whose mission is to cure Cystic Fibrosis and provide all people with CF the opportunity to lead long fulfilling lives. Funds go directly to support research and drug development. Starr Hill Brewery will also match these proceeds up to $1,500 during this fundraising period.

Behind the Label - Ramble On Juicy IPA