Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project is a Somerville-based brewery that has experienced an upswing in growth over the four years that they have been around. The company’s success is not only due to its excellently crafted ales, but also its impeccably designed custom labels.
The brewery was started by husband-wife duo Dann Paquette and Martha Holley-Paquette in 2008. After spending a decade at many different breweries around Massachusetts, Dann Paquette started the side project on his own. When trying to determine who would buy their pilot beer, Jack D’or, a golden lager, the two came up with 21 possibilities for sales. The company now has about 750 accounts throughout the Northeast, according to the Boston Globe.
“Dann Paquette has seen what it takes to make it as far as brewing great beer, obviously, but also marketing – making it something completely unique,” says Jason Alstrom – cofounder of Beer Advocate – to the Boston Globe. “The labels are fun to look at. There’s a story behind each one. And he went in a completely different direction with the beers. Most don’t fit in a style perfectly, which is a trend I see a lot of brewers going for.”
These labels are not just slapped on and then shipped out, the two carefully draw them, pulling inspiration from “history, folklore and whimsy.” Jack D’or is adorned with a cartoon barley grain wielding a large mustache and standing in a mash tun. Baby Tree has a colorful label depicting a tree sprouting babies and St. Botolph’s Stout boasts a colonial-era drawing of an old town.
Other craft brewers may see the kind of marketing success that Pretty Things has been fortunate enough to experience by investing in a Primera LX Series custom label printer to create their own custom labels that reflect the company’s personality and culture.