Wanted to toss this out to BA to see if I'm way off or not. Had some beers (Nightcrawler and a DIPA) from Flying Dreams and thought they were both FANTASTIC. Really, really great beers. I very badly want to see Flying Dreams succeed and follow the path of Wormtown...it would be awesome to see that space in Peppercorn's turn into an on deck circle for great new brewers that can't swing the huge space and tap room yet. Cut your teeth there, hone your craft, and then create another awesome spot somewhere in Central Mass when you make it big. My question is this...what do you guys think of the branding? To me, it's entirely too busy, and I think it hurts the overall perception of the brewery. I love the name, but the logo is confusing and has way too much going on in my opinion. Curious if I'm in the minority or not. We all know how hugely important branding is...the more people wearing the tshirts and drinking from the pint glasses, the more people wonder where they're from, the more people seek it out, the more people by the beer, the more money made, etc. Thoughts?
Branding can be a huge driver but its a bit overrated imo. In the end, good beer will win out. Otherwise these guys would never be distributed nationwide... anyway obviously a simplistic logo is always best. I'm sure they'll come up with one in due time. Hiring a graphic designer is probably not high on their priority list yet though. I wouldn't worry about it.
Glad to hear they have some good stuff out. I sampled something of theirs a few months ago at p-corns but it did not impress enough to buy (or remember). Will have to take another look. What products are they selling? (i.e. bottles, growlers, or on-site only) At an early stage I think these would be the prime vehicles for branding, rather than any merch. Even among those growlers are a pretty limited medium, tho maybe they can have some fun with tap handles. Wormtown did a bit of rebranding themselves along the way. But yeah without Be Hoppy don't know how far all that would really take them.
Flying Dreams is well below average in my opinion. I've had several of their beers in a sampler at Peppercorns on different occasions and didn't even finish the tasters. Their packaging is just as bad too. The logo is super dark and doesn't stand out at all on a shelf and they even had to add white stickers on the back to identify which beer it is because all the bottles are the same. Definitely comes off as a homebrewers in over their head even though they apparently have experience elsewhere
Was never blow away by their offerings so far, the saison was probably the best. Visiting the brewery was a little awkward as it was myself and a friend. The staff on hand was busy on their phones or trying to engage in conversation between themselves. Never mind the $55 hyro-flask growler I was offered to buy many times.
Disagree on the hate for Ballast Point branding; I think the branding is actually solid. It's a little "gimmicky", but they stick with a theme, and the logo as a whole is relatively simple. Flying Dreams is just a mess. Bummed that a few of you guys haven't been fans of the beers. I've been a huge fan of what I've tried, but that's only two different offerings. Hopefully you guys get a chance to try more that you like better in the future.
The only beer I've had from them is Nightmare After Christmas, which I thought was an excellent RIS. The branding isn't my favorite, but it didn't actively turn me off the beer.
The RIS is quite good. I thought the saison was good as well. Not so much with green dreams and nightcrawler. There's potential there. But I echo the packaging, it's very poor.
Quick look on the interwebs comes up with this as their logo.... is this what they use on their packaging??
Good timing on this thread, I visited there for the first time Friday afternoon and thought that across the board all beers were very good. Well, the DIPA was a bit goopy, but it does clock in at over 10%, so that should be a little expected. The Pale Ale was fabulous and I was glad to bring home a growler of it. As far as their marketing, I'm not a fan of the busy logo and hard to read typeface myself, but that's not going to stop me from visiting whenever I'm in Worcester. As far as the other points made, the staff when I was there was one girl who was very attentive to everyone and she didn't try to sell me a $55 hydro flask. The way it rolls there is they charge $8 for a good ~4oz sample of each of their 4 beers. While not the biggest bargain in the world, I don't mind giving an extra couple bucks to people who work hard to follow their dreams. Other than the samples, there's no on-site consumption, just growlers and bombers to go. The growler of the Pale Ale was $19 (glass included, $15 for a refill), DIPA was a buck or two more. Again, not the biggest bargain, but not bad either.
I have high hopes for his beer based on what I used to get at the Gardner Ale House. I didn't try everything he had on tap there but his hoppy stuff was always solid and his black IPA was better than most. I tried the K. Sutra on Friday night from a bomber. It was ok. Then again I don't really enjoy IPA's that get close to 10% ABV. There are exceptions but I find most to be too malty and with muddled hops and muted aroma. I could tell it was well made but just needs some recipe tweaks to be more approachable (for a 9.9% beer I guess) and crisp. I think he would be better served getting his DIPA's down to around 8% like most in this region. It's not a fad, its a preference for most IPA drinkers around here. Sales reflect that.
In the March print edition of Beer Advocate, @Jason gave their Dreaming of Summer saison a 92 rating! I was a little shocked. Definitely caught my attention and I will be seeking some out. Online, though, there is no rating from "The Bros." Is this something that fell through the cracks, or normal policy? I would think that all of the ratings from the print magazine would be entered as an official rating from either Jason or Todd. It would certainly help a small brewery like this, since the website reaches a far bigger audience than the magazine.
First I thought that was an island, with some white water waves near the top, then it looked like a happy big-nosed dragon, then I realized it's an angry dragon - the white that looked like the eyes and mouth of the happy big-nosed dragon are the teeth and breath? of the angry snake like dragon So I'd agree with the OP's thoughts on the branding
