Brewery branding: one look for every can, poster and post

Good brewery branding has two layers. The core never changes: the logo, the typeface, where the beer name sits, how strength and style are set. The second layer changes with every beer: a colour, a pattern or a piece of artwork. Drinkers recognise the brewery from the core and choose the beer from the second layer. Run the same split through release posts, the taproom calendar and posters, and everything you put out looks like it came from one place.

How to build a brewery brand that holds a whole range

Most breweries run several kinds of beer at once. Giving each kind its own visual rules stops a fridge of cans from turning into noise, and it tells drinkers what they are picking up before they read the style.

If your small batch series has its own name and following, it can work like a sub-brand with a little more independence. Keep the typeface, though: it is the thread that ties every can back to you. Writing these rules down once, as a short brand style guide page, stops a new designer or a collaboration partner from guessing.

Choosing colours for each beer style

Drinkers already link certain colours with certain styles, partly because they can see the beer in the glass. Lean into that for the core range, and break it on purpose for small batches when you want a beer to feel surprising.

Two practical checks before a colour goes to print. First, put the can next to its neighbours in the range: if two beers are hard to tell apart at a glance, push one lighter or darker. Second, check the beer name and the strength against the colour behind them, especially on pale lagers and deep stouts, where white or black type can sink. Text on a gradient covers how to test contrast across a whole label rather than at one spot.

What to put in a beer can release post

Release day is when your followers decide whether to come down or order online. Put the four facts they need in the first frame: the name, the style, the strength and when it is available.

1. 1

   Tease the colour

   A crop of the label colour or artwork a few days before, with the name only.

2. 2

   Announce the release

   Feed post and story together: name, style, ABV, date, where to buy.

3. 3

   Share the brew notes

   Hops, malts, what you were aiming for. Beer people read these.

4. 4

   Post the last call

   "Last cases of Low Tide." Useful for regulars who meant to order.

A weekly taproom calendar regulars look for

A weekly calendar post is one of the most useful things a taproom can share. Post it on the same day each week, in the same layout, and regulars start checking for it. List what's on and what's pouring, nothing more, and keep the words clear of the top and bottom of the story version, where the app's own buttons sit (social media safe zones shows where).

• Monday: the week's calendar post and story.
• Midweek: one event post, such as the quiz or a tap takeover.
• Friday: what's new on tap, or the release.
• Weekend: a story or two from the bar, with permission from anyone in shot.

For bigger events such as a birthday party or a beer festival, event marketing graphics has a fuller plan.

Taproom event poster design

Posters do two jobs in a brewery: they decorate the taproom and they sell events. Both work better when the poster uses your core type, so a quiz poster by the toilets and a gig poster in a shop window read as the same brand.

Band poster design and poster sizes go into more detail. A tool that resizes one design to every format saves a lot of evenings here: in Gradiently, Pro turns the Instagram post into the A3 poster and the story in one step, and the Designer can write the release copy and event wording in your brand kit's voice. If you claim a Mark as your taproom's background, only you can export with it, so no other brewery shares your look.