Hellbender Brewing Co.

Featured on The Dieline and Packaging of the World.

Hellbender Brewing Co. hired Pig Iron to design packaging for their 16oz canned beer. As a family, the products had to relate to each other while also standing out individually on shelves.

We began with an identity refresh for the brand, incorporating a new, more iconic Hellbender salamander. The new logo uses a more legible redraw of the previous Hellbender logo text, to signify an evolution of the brand versus a complete overhaul. The hand-drawn style favored by Hellbender Brewing is also represented in the rough edges of the logo badge and the three stars which represent the Washington, D.C. flag.

The design for the Hellbender cans features a two-sided approach for maximum brand exposure both on shelves and in hand. Each beer variety was treated as its own brand within the Hellbender family. As such, each has its own simple yet distinct logo and color scheme. Certain brand unifying elements like the Hellbender illustration and the full Hellbender logomark unify the suite. The meandering creek and mountain range featured on each can is a subtle nod to the Hellbender salamander’s natural habitat. Hellbender Brewing Co’s mission statement is also featured on each can to call attention to the need to preserve these endangered animals. We also leveraged the substrate itself, a plastic sleeve over an aluminum can, by using transparency and knocked-out elements to create interesting metallic highlights where the can itself shows through. The latitude and longitude coordinates of the brewery also appear on the cans, as a nod to geotagging or orienteering.