London-based LGBTQ+ brewery Queer Brewing has announced a rebrand ahead of the release of the first beers from their new brewery.
The new brewery in Leyton, London
This will be the first time the company have brewed their beer in their own production unit, and on their own terms.
The first three beers will be pouring at more than 40 venues across the UK on Friday, 28th February, including at Queer Brewing’s own taproom in Leyton. The full list of venues can be seen here.
The rebrand comprises a new logo, refreshed core range labels and artwork, and a new direction for special releases.
The new logo, motif originally found on their 2024 pale ale Limp Wrist, aims to capture and communicate the spirit of Queer Brewing to a wider audience, and bring the company’s core branding in line with the direction of their more recent releases.
“Our first logo was designed by me on a laptop in the back of a car, coming back from a family holiday, and it served Queer Brewing well for the first year or so of its life,” said founder and owner Lily Waite-Marsden.
“We replaced this with a rebrand in early 2021 to coincide with the launch of our first three core beers, inspired by beer tradition (particularly continental brewing), reflecting our DIY non-conventional approach, and our aesthetic tastes at the time.”
“As the company has grown, however, this branding has felt increasingly dated and no longer speaks to who we are, what we do, and what our values are. With the launch of new beers coming out of our brand new brewery, we thought this was the perfect time to give our branding a little zhuzh, and to really capture the essence of Queer Brewing from a visual branding and communications perspective.”
As Queer Brewing has matured and grown as a company — from a workforce of just one to now one of seven — the team have seen a growth of their key target audience in the LGBTQ+ community.
The core range of beers
One of the few queer- and trans-owned breweries worldwide, and the first in this country, wearing their identity on their sleeve has been a core value from the very start. Indeed, it is a large part of their mission: to provide visibility and representation for LGBTQ+ people via great beer. A brand refresh with a logo that centres this was a no-brainer for Charlotte Waite-Marsden, who designed the new branding.
“This is the first brand refresh where we’ve overhauled everything, so it’s been daunting — but we’re all super happy with how everything’s looking,” she said.
“The new branding is future-facing and super sleek, as we leave behind something that no longer feels like us in favour of something more aligned with our brand values and our community. The new printed cans feel so recognisably us, and the logo is cutesy, instantly recognisable, and communicates exactly what we want it to — as our name has since the start. It’s iconic, just like us!”
Queer Brewing recently completed the build and commissioning of a 30hl brewing system from Gravity Systems. This will allow the company to meet the potential the team have long seen, but struggled to meet.
With all brewing moving in-house, they’re excited to focus on improving beer quality, refining and perfecting core beers, and developing their specials, all under the stewardship of former Fourpure head brewer Andy Potter.
“For some time, we’ve been seeing snapshots of what fulfilling Queer Brewing’s potential looks like: incredible events with LGBTQ+ people feeling safe and seen in pop-up Queer Brewing spaces, busy taproom events, permanent lines in key queer venues, and so much more,” said Lily.
“But as many of these moments as there are, we’ve seemingly perpetually been plagued by production difficulties beyond our control.
“Of course, I’ve worked in this industry long enough to know just how difficult it is to run a brewery, but I also know that these problems will become our problems to solve, and that taking production under our control will allow our brilliant and much-loved brewery to reach its full potential. With full oversight over production, and a gorgeous new brand direction, we’re in a great place.”
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