New York beer, New York labels

Consistent growth and today’s production volume has justified the need for someone in operations to be solely responsible for brand packaging across the portfolio. Thompson is tasked with ordering and forecasting, managing the design process for new products and ensuring TTB and state-level compliance.

The brewery uses a metallic gold for its logo and flair, which has been a source of problems with the brand’s packaging as a whole. Thompson says: ‘We’ve had a hard time in the past finding vendors that were able to replicate what we were going for. DWS came along and gave us a label that we liked. The colors were spot on, they had a nice sheen to them and they were able to turn around the order quickly, between 100-200,000 labels within a couple of weeks.’

Brooklyn Brewery began sourcing labels from DWS Printing in 2013 for beers made in its Brooklyn, New York headquarters.

Unique packaging
Typically the labels produced by DWS are pressure-sensitive for decorating 12oz and 750ml bottles of beer. Thompson explains, ‘We’re still working out how to make the most of the facility in Brooklyn. There have been a lot of changes in production lately and there’s more immediate need for labels. Previously we’d forecast out in months, and now that’s shortened significantly.’

The brewery makes a specialty Brooklyn Quarterly Experiment, called BQE, which requires 45,000 labels that are never ordered again. There is embossing added to many of the 750ml labels. The brand promotes these as unique, high-ticket items, which is conveyed through the fancier packaging.

‘DWS is one of the easiest vendors to work with,’ says Thompson. ‘They’re responsive, quick and on time. If we make an input mistake, they’re the first to catch it. They’ve given us many new options that we didn’t know existed and are eager to show us what else they can do as a company to take our packaging to the next level.’

American brewery abroad
Brooklyn Brewery is the number one craft beer exporter in the US. After New York City, its second largest market is Sweden. In 2014, Brooklyn Brewery and Carlsberg opened the joint venture brewery Nya Carnegie, in Stockholm, Sweden. The launch of Nya Carnegie marks the first time an American craft brewery has established a facility overseas.

I♥NY

Milton Glaser, the famous graphic artist responsible for the I♥NY logo, designed the logo for Brooklyn Brewery’s most popular Lager in 1988. Says Thompson, ‘The logo is basically unchanged. It’s rooted in the classic Brooklyn look and feel that’s been around forever.’