What's the biggest "brand refresh" miss you've ever seen?

Fingers’ visuals serve Fingers’ stories, usually poorly, but you guys don’t seem to care, because that’s not what you’re paying for. It’s the words, man. (If you’re not paying for them yet, today’s a great day to upgrade!) You’re not really paying for the visuals when you buy booze either, not directly. Yet the aesthetics of alcohol brands are extremely important in influencing that buying process. Liquids within the same “competitive set” are not distinctive from one another as liquids. Labels, fonts, package styles, even bottle shapes do the visual persuading that the alcohol itself cannot. This is why some public-health experts advocate for plain-labeling requirements, by the way. Story for another day, that.

This market paradigm is a boon for new booze brands, because the American drinking public is a sucker for bright colors and novel designs. It’s more complicated for legacy beer, wine, and spirits, which have to figure out ways to consistently catch the eye of new generations of drinkers without alienating their core customers. Occasionally, this goes well! Often, it does not. What's the biggest "brand refresh" miss you've ever seen?

This week’s thread applies to any type of alcohol, but was prompted by Cigar City Brewery’s new-this-week of Jai Alai, its venerable India pale ale. Like Anchor Brewing Co. before it, Cigar City’s new look comes during a period of troubled corporate ownership. The San Francisco brewery rolled out its 2021 rebrand under Sapporo USA; its Tampa craft-brewing counterpart has been owned since 2022 by Monster Beverage Corporation. Frankly, I do not like either! Anchor’s recalls Twisted Tea, while Jai Alai’s immediately summons Mountain Dew’s Kickstarter energy drink line. Your mileage may vary—graphic design is emphatically not my passion.

Not a visual learner opiner? No problem. Talk to the Fingers Fam about:

• The supposed global lack of “happiness, celebration, et cetera” that LVMH execs blamed slumping Q2 Champagne sales on;

• The supposed over-dependence Boston Beer Co. has developed upon Twisted Tea to drive future growth while Sam Adams, Angry Orchard, and Truly flail;

• The supposed disregard Oregon bureaucrats had for a federal recommendation not to release a health study on alcohol taxation of “questionable scientific quality;”

Or whatever else you’ve got on your mind. I’ll be in the comments today, and you can be too, no matter whether you’re a free or paid subscriber.