51st State Brewing Co. Branding

The Project:

The owners of 51st State Brewing Co. in Kingsford, MI reached out to me to refresh their logo. Known for their great beers and cool atmosphere, they needed a logo to match the laid-back, yet outdoorsy spirit of their brand. They wanted it to be modern, but also draw on the rugged and natural roots of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The Process:

I always like to start with a round of sketching to get the ideas flowing— then, we move into Adobe Illustrator to add textures and vectorize the logos. The result is one primary logo and a variety of submarks, perfect for printing on hats, stickers, hoodies, coozies and more— because who doesn’t love snagging a t-shirt at their fav beer spot?

Ready for your own branding project?

Logo of 51st State Brewing Co. overlaid on a beach scene with trees, water, and blue sky.
A circular logo with a brown background, featuring the number '31' in large white font, with a silhouette of Alaska within the '3'. Below, white text reads '51st State Brewing Co'.
Comparison of two logo sketches for 51st State Brewing Co., showing different wave design options with annotations in red handwriting noting '3 original' in the top sketch and '3 + waves' with an arrow pointing to the wave design in the bottom sketch.
Yellow route marker with white border displays the number 51 and a map outline of Texas.
Red hoodie with the Fifty First State Brewing Co. logo, cans of soda, branded stickers, and other merchandise on a white background.