This content was originally published by The Hop Review, a digital magazine that joined the Hop Culture family in March 2020.
This piece was written by Jack Muldowney.
SALEM, CT
When you think of heritage beer brands, your mind might conjure visuals of Yuengling, Lone Star, Schell’s or Schlitz perhaps. But if you were to create a new brewery’s visuals from scratch–that was meant to give nod to these brands of yesteryear, while still feeling current–what might that look like…?
One remote beer maker in Salem, Connecticut–Fox Farm Brewery–has managed to do just that, with their truly unique approach with their identity and packaging system. Inspired by vintage seed packaging (you know, because it’s Fox Farm), designer Dan Cassaro of studio Young Jerks, got to work creating a label system complete with custom dielines for an unexpected approach.
We spoke with Co-founder, Zach Adams, to get a sense of the brewery’s approach to their branding:
“Our goal with Fox Farm has always been to build something with staying power–we have immense respect for traditional styles and the breweries that have spanned generations and out-lasted trends. We hope that’s reflected in our brewing philosophy and beers but we’re pretty confident it shows in our branding. In Dan [Cassaro]’s work, we saw this kind of timeless Americana vibe that we thought fit perfectly with where we were trying to go. Ultimately, I think we’ve built an identity that would have made sense 50 years ago and that will hopefully work 50 years from now.”
Here’s a little insight to the design approach from Dan Cassaro:
“There are a lot of very loud beer cans on the market so we thought something understated would be a nice way to stand out. We loosely referenced vintage seed packets to pay tribute to the agricultural history of Fox Farm and let color-coding and simple imagery tell the story of each beer. Fox Farm already made great beer when we started working on the canning program with them, so it was important for us to make a label that supported the quality and care they put into their work and not overdo it or be showy. We had to kinda flex on that die-cut label though because it just looked so damn cool.”
Complete with beautiful visuals by
Jake Snyder of Red Skies Photography, the Fox Farm visual identity and packaging really seem to resonate. And that ‘sense of place’ that so many breweries long for couldn’t be more prominent in their brand. Now, we just need to make the trip out there… 
“There are a lot of very loud beer cans on the market so we thought something understated would be a nice way to stand out. We loosely referenced vintage seed packets to pay tribute to the agricultural history of Fox Farm and let color-coding and simple imagery tell the story of each beer. ”
“Fox Farm already made great beer when we started working on the canning program with them, so it was important for us to make a label that supported the quality and care they put into their work and not overdo it or be showy. We had to kinda flex on that die-cut label though because it just looked so damn cool.”
“Ultimately, I think we’ve built an identity that would have made sense 50 years ago and that will hopefully work 50 years from now.
”
“Our goal with Fox Farm has always been to build something with staying power–we have immense respect for traditional styles and the breweries that have spanned generations and out-lasted trends. We hope that’s reflected in our brewing philosophy and beers but we’re pretty confident it shows in our branding.”
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Design by Dan Cassaro of Young Jerks.
Photography by Jake Snyder of Red Skies Photography.