The Greenwich Brewery, London’s first luxury brewery came to SomeOne to launch a range of exotic premium beers in 2004.

Since then we created the names and the packaging of the new beers. We created their flagship pub in Greenwich (The Greenwich Union) —and most recently created the branding and 60ft interior wrap for their award winning restaurant ‘The Old Brewery’ part of the Royal Naval College.

When it launched it was a local brew with big ideas. The beers are now stocked in Waitrose and Sainsburys and is being distributed in the USA. Oh, and they taste INCREDIBLE.

* * * Below is an article from Design Week featuring SomeOne’s work for Meantime… and a few choice quotes from one of our founders, Simon Manchipp…
Forget flat-capped individuals and old country pubs, real ale has a growing audience of young aficionados, including women. Angus Montgomery looks at how a range of brands are being revamped for a modern audience

Real ale has long been talked up as a growing drinks sector, with references to its increasing popularity among women and young people and its move away from the traditional stereotype of flat-capped, ferret-fancying drinkers who wear socks with their sandals.

The Cask Report 2010-2011 – independently written and backed by the Campaign for Real Ale and major brewers – says the number of women drinking cask ale (real ale sold on-trade through hand-pumps) doubled between 2007 and 2008, while the number of 18to 24-year-old cask ale drinkers rose by 17 per cent from 2009 to 2010.

What is notable about the real ale sector from the branding perspective is that it has become so sophisticated that Simon Manchipp, founder of Someone, which has worked on the branding for London brewery Meantime for the past seven years, can now talk of ‘the established brands like Directors and Fullers, which are untouchable; extreme brewers like Brewdog [infamous for its 32 per cent ABV Tactical Nuclear Penguin ale and for selling limited-edition beers packaged in stuffed grey squirrels]; and Meantime, operating somewhere in the middle’.

An additional boom in small independent brewers around the country – referred to by some industry figures as ‘bucket-and-stick operations’ – has brought further life to the sector. Many of these smaller independent breweries, with their emphasis on provenance, regionalism and authenticity, are a godsend for designers looking to get their teeth into a juicy brand story.

Someone’s work for Meantime, says Manchipp, has been all about ‘going back to authenticity’. He says, ‘When we were doing the original design work we tried to do a modern take, but it all ended up looking awful – like alcopops. So we’ve tried not to modernise in the design sense, but to go back to a deeper authenticity.’

With Meantime Someone had a treasure trove of stories to work with. Manchipp says, ‘India pale ale, for example, was originally brewed stronger and more hoppy so that it could survive the sea journey to India. Meantime’s IPA comes from an understanding of the background and uses the original recipe.’

Golden brew – cask beer is a £1.8bn market, responsible for 45 000 jobs. It also raises £454m a year in duty for the Treasury.

http://www.someoneinlondon.com/category/projects/meantime-london%e2%80%99s-brewer-of-choice