Flathead Brewery revamps labels with help of Missoula artist

The Imperial IPA and The Imperial sailboat are two things the Flathead Lake Brewery will ideally some day be known for. Incidentally, their vision of this same boat is ever-present on the new logos created to re-brand their beers.

The boat is a goal, visible and pronounced, especially since they named their imperial India pale ale after the boat. It is a goal that is perhaps in the distant future, but something the brewery’s marketing and outreach director Blake Nicolazzo said is definitely achievable.

“Our whole goal is to be the Flathead Lake beer,” Nicolazzo said. “And I thought how are we going to reflect that in a brand.”

The Imperial sailboat makes an appearance in the background or foreground of each flagship beer label, Bufflehead Brown, Two Rivers Pale, Wild Mile Wheat, The Centennial IPA and The Imperial IPA.

Perhaps one day the brew crew at the Flathead Lake Brewery will sail around the lake in a boat called The Imperial, but for now, Nicolazzo said they are taking growth one step at a time.

New labels were the first step. In January they called on Missoula artist Anneke Ayers to help with the concept they had for their brand. Ayers designs the posters the Flathead Lake Brewery tap room in Missoula gives away during their monthly tap nights that benefit a different non-profit each month.

Nicolazzo describes Ayers work as a sort of new age folk art. And in the process of designing the labels, they had a chance to name their beers as well.

“It’s worked out awesome,” Nicolazzo said. “She’s pretty incredible.”

The brewery will switch out their 22-ounce bottle labels as soon as their supply of old labels runs out. She estimates that new labels will begin showing up on shelves around mid-July.

“Our next creative step will be to take it from the sticker to a custom tap-handle,” Nicolazzo said. “Which, you know, could be another year.”

And with the brewery already selling at their capacity, 830 barrels a year (one barrel equals two kegs), the need for a custom tap-handle is a ways out. Essentially, every keg the brewery makes is already sold.

Nicolazzo said thoughts of expanding production capabilities are on the horizon, but nothing is concrete yet. It is something they don’t really want to rush into.

“We need to take it slow and we need to get it right, we need to focus on getting what we’re doing right now right,” Nicolazzo said.