The History
Kirk and Sherwin bonded in high school over their love of cars. They discovered what a great team they made while working together on restoring Sherwin’s ’67 Karmann Ghia, and strengthened their bond while restoring several other vintage cars and tackling home repair projects.
The duo enjoyed having a beer together after an honest day’s hard work, which led to Sherwin getting a home brew kit, and eventually collecting bronze, silver and gold medals for his beers. Soon, the two had a business plan in place to launch the Brewyard concept, and with a lot of hard work, they became the second brewery in Glendale, providing fresh, craft beer for those living in North LA. They opened their location in the industrial section of Glendale, tackling a great deal of the build out themselves.
The Need & Our Process
Brewyard needed a website that strongly conveyed their brand, alongside providing functionality such as an age verification pop up, social media feeds, as well as lots of images and video (they even have a great video showing those wishing to visit the brewery how to get to their location).
MeetGeraldine first conducted a Brand Report analysis, including several in-depth interviews, to get a complete picture of who and what Brewyard Beer Company is. Our team traveled to SoCal to visit the taproom, with the goal of translating the esthetic of the taproom into the site.
Walking into the Brewyard taproom feels like walking into a speakeasy at the tail end of Prohibition. The staff are personal and approachable, just like the beer. In many ways, the taproom and the brand are built around the restored 1936, end of prohibition-era truck. The truck represents a “work horse.” It’s a celebration of the hard work and resourcefulness of the blue-collar worker, as well as Kirk and Sherwin’s friendship.
The Site
Through our visit and the Brand Report process, it was clear that we needed to ensure the presence of the truck throughout the website, portray the end of Prohibition feel, as well as visually share Kirk and Sherwin’s pride in their taproom being a growing part of the Glendale community.
MeetGeraldine’s design team utilized concepts such as a vintage map of Glendale fading into the background of the homepage, vintage paper backgrounds to display the site’s content, and of course the truck. The team considered how to incorporate the brand when the logo itself wouldn’t work in specific places.
The end result was a beautiful, eye-catching and memorable website that tells Brewyard’s story, and enticing you to come relax and enjoy a fresh, cold, craft beer.
Measurable Results
(Results reported are as of November 2016, 2 months after website launch)
As a result of the website launch- Brewyard Beer company reported a 10% increase in sales after one month and increased foot traffic due to increased awareness of their website events calendar.
Google analytics reported high traffic in the first month of the website launch with a 25% increase during the second month.
Here’s where the website visits came from:
• 50% of these Internet users found the website through organic searches
• 36% visited the website directly
• 9% through social media channels
• 4% through referrals from beer related websites
Check out brewyardbeercompany.com and remember visit their taproom when you’re in the Glendale area!
