2019 Craft Beer Branding Trends

Let’s begin by discussing a few of the visual trends we’ve seen rise in prominence this year.

Maximum design, minimal branding

This is awesome! Wait, who made this again?

This colorful styling took root as a way to denote a brewery’s special releases by seeking to stand starkly apart from core flagship packaging. Originally, this created a one-off sense of “beer as art” — often signifying an extremely experimental beer, or a limited release that stands apart from business as usual. We are now noticing that smaller/younger breweries are applying this approach to their core/flagship offerings, for better and for worse.