Fordham Brand Wants To Look Its Best With Redesign

For the first time in five years, Fordham & Dominion Brewery’s Fordham portfolio has received an overhaul for the New Year. Citing an ever changing market, the brand’s look was changed after what Events Coordinator Sarah Ottinger said they want to be kept on their toes.

“[The market] makes us constantly have to evolve which is a great thing,” she said. “We don’t ever feel like we should ever be too comfortable. It’s allowed us to learn a lot, fail from time-to-time, but overall we’re proud of what we’ve done leading up to now. As long as we continue to build relationships, whether they be at festivals, in our tasting room, at our own events, at retailers or at the distributor level, we win.”

In addition to a new look, the two flagship beers, “Gypsy” Lager and “Copperhead” Amber Ale, will also be joined by four new brews. “Crash Zone” IPL and “Dilated Pupilz” are being added to the year round calendar, while “11th Sour” Berliner Weisse and a Scotch Ale will make seasonal appearances. All the new beers originated from test batches done over the past that have had what Ottinger called “an overwhelming positive response.”

“Everywhere you go, you want to look your best,” said VP of Marketing and graphic designer Ryan Telle. “With the industry being extremely competitive right now, everything needs to be great. There are a lot of consumers out there for the taking, new introductions to our brands to be made. I feel the new packaging is a great way to acquire new supporters of our beloved brand.”

Ottinger said that Telle was just allowed “to do his thing.”

“He wanted to create colorful/eye catching imagery that really embodied the new names we collectively came up with,” she said. “With limited shelf space in the market (eight states plus the United Kingdom), packaging is very important. It almost becomes the acquisition piece. We feel like our packaging will grab the attention of the consumer and we’ll let the liquid speak for itself.”

The brewery produced 28,000 barrels in 2016 on a 50-bbl brewhouse, doing two batches per say to keep up with demand.

And the brand is getting a bump through social media, release parties, point of sale placement, merchandise, territory takeovers, and print and online ads.

“Everything we can possibly afford,” Ottinger said.