BY Armin

A Pyramid Grows in the Northwest

Established in 1984 in the state of Washington as Hart Brewing, the small microbrewery has grown quite a bit in the last quarter century — I could have said 25 years, but “quarter of a century” adds so much more drama, but anyway… — gathering awards for their specialty flavored and uniquely concocted beers as well as running three full-production breweries in Seattle, Berkeley and Portland and four, probably delicious, alehouses. Hart Brewing changed its name to Pyramid Breweries in 1996. This month, they will start selling their beer in newly designed bottles and boxes and introducing a new logo.

The previous logo was strangely enough too specific to Egyptian pyramids, and I can’t tell if it was done ironically or not, there just doesn’t seem to be any strong reason for such an American-like beer and company to go after that look. So while the old logo looked more like a cover of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves the new logo is unabashedly more American, even more Northwestern-ish and even Midwestern-ish, a working man’s and woman’s beer. The lines are cleaner, the type is bolder and the colors are more interesting. There is a slight disconnect in the style and line-width between the pyramids and the ribbon but overall it works well together. As the bottles below show, the logo looks better on a dark background, where the rays behind the pyramids, shine a little brighter.

Old bottle design, and previous name, Pyramid Hefe Weizen, for the flagship beer now named Pyramid Haywire.

There is also a new bottle and six-pack designs that use some hyper-stylized illustrations that introduce a completely different feeling from the logo. It may be someone else’s idea of good beer packaging, but it’s not mine and it feels like beginner’s beer, as opposed to beer from a 25-year-old brewery. Too much X-Games, not enough blue ribbon award winning.

\n\nEstablished in 1984 in the state of Washington as Hart Brewing, the small microbrewery has grown quite a bit in the last quarter century — I could have said 25 years, but \"quarter of a century\" adds so much more drama, but anyway… — gathering awards for their specialty flavored and uniquely concocted beers as well as running three full-production breweries in Seattle, Berkeley and Portland and four, probably delicious, alehouses. Hart Brewing changed its name to Pyramid Breweries in 1996. This month, they will start selling their beer in newly designed bottles and boxes and introducing a new logo.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners