Funky Buddha Brewery Acquired By Constellation Brands

This summer it was announced that Constellation Brands, recent purchasers of Ballast Point, would also add Funky Buddha Brewery, of Oakland Park, Florida to its stable of high-end breweries.

I worked closely with Jon and the rest of The Brandit team to redevelop their packaging system and re-envision their brand identity a few years ago, while I was with the agency. Their two flagship products, Hop Gun IPA and Floridian Hefeweizen, I developed as part of the initial launch, working with Rubens Scarelli to create the amazing illustrations.

Funky Buddha was the #1 New BA Craft Beer Vendor of 2015, after introducing the new brand and packaging.

T-Shirt Design & Logo Roundup - Summer 2017

With the oppressive heat in full swing, it's time to break out your favorite tees. Apparel is not something of which I do an enormous amount, but it's always a good time. Here are a few of my favorites from the past several weeks/months/years.

Barley's Craft Pizza & Beer
Greenville, SC

King's Sandwich Shop
Durham, NC

Key West Pub Crawl 2015
Funky Buddha Brewery
Oakland Park, Florida

Oconee Brewing Co.
Greensboro, Georgia

Euro-Awesome 2015
Personal Project

"Courage!"
Santa Maria Brewing Co.
Santa Maria, California

Hoke Family Reunion 2017
Cleveland, Ohio

King's Sandwich Shop
Durham, NC

Maple Bacon Coffee Porter Festival
Funky Buddha Brewery
Oakland Park, Florida

Iron Triangle Brewing Co.
Los Angeles, California

Silver Harbor Brewing Co.
Saint Joseph, Michigan

"Ales & Lagers"
Santa Maria Brewing Co.
Santa Maria, California

Funky Buddha, Barley's, Iron Triangle, Oconne, and Silver Harbor. were all done while I was at The Brandit, but not all of these shirts were ever produced. Sometimes it's fun to see what might have been.

Cutting Room Floor: Iron Triangle Brewing Co.

On occasion it's fun to go back and examine some work that didn't quite make the cut. Roughly a year ago, while an art director at The Brandit, I began working on an identity system for Iron Triangle Brewing Co. in Los Angeles. Thematically, they were very interested in the story of Milliam Mulholland, Fredrick Eaton, and Joseph Lippincot: the three men who built the LA aqueduct at the turn of the 20th century. They wanted to make sure that the imagery of the aqueduct was somewhat visible, or at least homaged in the creation of the artwork. Creating a suite of icons and logos was important, as well.

I ran across it an early version of the identity system that didn't make it past the second round, and thought it was really cool. The name "Iron Triangle" combined with the imagery of an aqueduct made for a conceptual challenge, and the linkage of two strong geometric shapes is an elegant way to square, or triangle, that circle. Negative space at the linking points creates a swirling effect, reminiscent of water propelled through a tube.

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“William Mulholland was a self-educated man, but in 1914 the University of California at Berkeley bestowed on him an honorary doctorate degree. The inscription on the diploma read ‘Percussit saxa et duxit flumina ad terram sitientum’ (He broke the rocks and brought the river to the thirsty land).”

— IrishAmerica.com

During the research phase, we found this interesting bit about William Mulholland. The inscription is wrapped around the tertiary logo, which was intended as an interesting button, or perhaps even embossed on the bottom of the bottle if we pursued custom glassware. One version utilized the original latin, for even more classic character. The secondary logo feels the most like swirling water, and was to be used as the crown.

The identity system works especially well on black.