True Anomaly, a visionary brewery ignited by a team of former NASA employees and avid space aficionados, embarks on a mission to transcend the ordinary and voyage into uncharted flavor territories. The results are beer creations that constantly discover new ways to brew using experience and vision for the future. With their latest odyssey, they used ale fermented with grapes to create two drinks that defy conventional categories and transcend the boundaries of outer taste.
After creating their new brews, True Anomaly faced what Buzz Aldrin once called the lunar surface: "Magnificent desolation." A desolation of branding and design but a magnificent opportunity to give character to these boundless drinks. What names would be able to represent the allure of the tastes? What visuals could showcase the ingenuity of craft beer that awaits you within the box and bottle? These questions led True Anomaly, Texas Craft Brewery of the Year, to ask Pennebaker, Houston Marketing Agency of the Year, for our skills in branding from naming to design to packaging. And so, we put on our helmets and prepared for liftoff.
Venturing into the concept stage, we harmonized with a lot of 1960s space rock and brushed up on NASA’s lexicon. The challenge was double because the twin brews needed twin names. What pair of terms could be related without being too similar? We landed on “Red Giant” and “White Dwarf” as the names because they echo the products' forward-thinking nature and reference the future of our luminous Sun, although it will hopefully be billions of years from now.
When finding the look and feel for the packaging, we needed to represent that these drinks were in a space of their own, largely unexplored. We took inspiration from space tourism posters to make it feel like we were inviting people to explore this new space with us. The designs tie the two together while giving them distinct colors which match closely to the color of their names and drink. All the elements of naming, branding, packaging, and design came together to form the package containing tall bottles that housed the cosmic brews.
The pair of fusions were launched on August 1st, 2023, and are available for a limited time at True Anomaly Brewery and select online stores.
This collaboration project brought together interesting people and big ideas to create two unique new craft beers and a sublime special-edition case. So go ahead. Drink boldly. Ferment on it. Inscribe your impressions in the cosmos.