Kulshan Brews Up a New Look
New Logo, Cans and Cartons. Same Great Tasting Beer.
Since opening their doors in 2012, Kulshan Brewing Company has been brewing true-to-style, award-winning ales and lagers in Bellingham, WA with great success. Just a few short years after opening their Sunnyland neighborhood location, they opened a 30-barrel production brewery in response to an overwhelming demand for more beer. But with growing competition in a thriving craft beer community, they recognized it was time to throw the same passion and energy into the brand and messaging as they had been devoting to the beer.
In the summer of 2017, Kulshan took the plunge and invested in a marketing team including two newly created positions: Brand Manager and Media & Events. Along with designer Cameron Jennings, the team set out to review, revise and refresh the Kulshan Brand to more accurately represent the quality of beer, community presence and culture the brewery was known for.
The goal of this rebrand was two-fold: Align the Kulshan brand with its surrounding community and natural environment with a timeless execution and introduce their year-round beer cans to recyclable cardboard cartons. Along with the logo, Bastard Kat IPA, Sunnyland IPA, Red Cap Ale, and Greenwood Summer Ale cans were all completely revamped. Kulshan enlisted local artist Sarah Finger, of Skyline Printworks to hand-carve and print each can and carton’s artwork featuring scenic views of local environs: Mt. Baker, the Salish Sea, Baker Lake, the Twin Sisters and Mt Shuksan.
The redesigned logo and website brings a new sophistication and grown-up feel to the brewery. “The new visual has many of the same elements as the original logo but with a refined and timeless aesthetic. We’re not the new kids on the block - we’ve been around a while now - and we wanted to ensure that we didn’t abandon our loyal, local following with something too trendy or flashy. Yet with the Seattle market in our sights, it also needed to feel contemporary, classic and cool. I think we accomplished that with a simplified execution of the logo, expanded brand kit and updated color palette,” said Megan Bailey, brand manager for Kulshan Brewing.
