Shmaltz Brewing is introducing new packaging and label designs on their year-round 6-pack offerings Genesis and Messiah.
The makeover is the first each of the brands has had since 2003 when Voicebox Creative re-designed the original label artwork.
“We had some primary problems with our current packaging,” said Shmaltz Founder Jeremy Cowan. “Our goal for this round of re-design was simple — tell people what they are drinking.”
Cowan said that while the Shmaltz brand was built on fun and creative label designs, the non-traditional style categorizations weren’t always resonation with consumers.
“Genesis is really somewhere in between a pale ale and an amber,” he said. “Unfortunately, no other breweries jumped into the category of ‘light brown ale,’ with us.”
Genesis will now be categorized as a ‘Dry Hopped Session Ale.’
“I thought it would be fun to throw a hat into the session ale mayhem,” said Cowan. “I wondered what people would think of the word session, but I think the word is around enough that people recognize it.”
Similarly, Messiah has also been rebranded as a ‘Nut Brown Ale.’
“I always knew it was ‘nut brown ale’, but the packaging just read dark brown ale,” said Cowan.
In addition to the rebranded styles, Shmaltz’s art director, Matt Polacheck, updated the look of the design itself. The result is a much cleaner looking appeal to both the label and the 6-pack itself.
“We wanted to retain the history, the spirit and enough of the visuals from day one,” said Cowan. “We are not abandoning in anyways the Hebrew brand. In fact, we are re-imaging it for the purposes of living in it for a long time.”
Both the Genesis and Messiah 6-pack carriers are designed to sit on the shelf next one another with the image of a traditional Hasid split across each. And according to Cowan, a third four-pack offering of their Lenny’s R.I.P.A will also feature integrated imagery that could split each of the 6-packs giving a ‘billboard effect’ when placed on the shelf together.
Genesis and Messiah currently make up a combined 16-20 percent of Shmaltz total production volume, according to Cowan. He also said there are no current plans to update any of their 22-ounce offerings.
In January, Shmaltz will introduce a new year-round beer, Hop Manna IPA. This beer checks in at 6.8 percent and 65 IBU’s.
Shmaltz produced 7300 barrels of beer in 2010 and is on pace to produce 9500 in 2011.