Utah’s Wasatch Brewery and Squatters Craft Beer repackage portfolio

Utah’s original craft brewers, Wasatch Brewery and Squatters Craft Beers, just unveiled new packaging paired with a growing portfolio of artisan ales and lagers in a variety of year-round and seasonal styles. Squatters and Wasatch utilized the talent of Sandstrom Partners for brand development strategy.

“We went back to the beginning of the story … 1986, when we created the Wasatch beer culture hidden behind the veil of Utah,” Wasatch founder Greg Schirf recalled. “Utah is an amazing place, with amazing people who make amazing beer. The opportunity to brew a little irreverence has been our style from the start. We pulled from historical label graphics and had illustrations painted by Howell Golson, creating impactful branding reflecting our edgy personality.

“Make no mistake, evolving established brand identities is no enterprise for the weak of heart. It’s a demanding process that won’t always corral everyone’s enthusiasm,” Schirf continued. “It takes a committed and progressive team.”

The brewery continues to grow, adding members to the brewery team, a high-speed elevated de-palletizer and other cool brewer’s toys recently commissioned to support the 400-per-minute bottling line and new canning line.

“We approached evolving Squatters visual identity with the same passion and attention to detail we’ve always applied to crafting our beers — nothing but the best ingredients, a truly gifted team and the requirement that it has to be fun,” said Peter Cole, Squatters founding partner. “I’m thrilled with the new Squatters packaging. I feel it truly reflects the core values we’ve had for 25 years, provides our customers finely crafted, satisfying and interesting beers and maintains a solid commitment to our community and our planet, while providing great jobs and opportunities for the people we work with — now almost 500 company-wide.”

Squatters utilized photographs and a traditional and earthy framework to reflect the real essence of each beer.

“It’s been a whirlwind these last few months, but the results of our investments have blown us away — growth is over 43 percent year to date and that’s before all our new packaging is fully implemented. Looks like we’re gonna have to build a bigger boat!” Schirf toasted.