Project Overview
As one of Houston’s largest independent craft breweries, Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. knew it needed to arm its distributor partners with the tools to compete head-to-head with Big Beer. Consumers were increasingly reaching for IPAs and flavor-forward adjunct brews, and BuffBrew saw an opportunity to take back shelf space with packages that balanced accessibility and creativity. The challenge: design permanent multipack SKUs that felt at home next to national brands, while still carrying the distinctiveness and innovation BuffBrew was known for. The goal was to maintain brand consistency & integrity outside of a single product. The volume package needed to stand apart from the aging Crush City IPA 12 Pack which was already on shelves while evoking feelings of fun, energy, and mouth-watering flavor under a revitalized Crush City IPA banner.
Services Rendered:
Product Development
Art Direction
Illustration
Graphic Design
Package Design
Marketing Strategy
Design direction leaned into Houston’s culture and identity. Drawing inspiration from the city’s sports heritage, we echoed the iconic stripes of classic Houston Astros uniforms while weaving in other cultural touchpoints: the skyline, the oil tank train cars that cut across the city, the Minute Maid Park home run train, and the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour that famously paraded through downtown. The result was packaging that felt like a badge of Houston pride — instantly recognizable and deeply tied to the community BuffBrew calls home.
We rolled out 6-packs, 12-packs, and mixed 12-packs alongside draft formats, creating a complete system that worked across grocery, liquor retail, and on-premise accounts. To support distributors, we designed vehicle wraps, retail point-of-sale displays, large-format signage, and on-premise materials for bars and restaurants. The goal was consistency: whether you encountered BuffBrew at a stadium tailgate, your local store, or on tap at a bar, the branding worked as one unified system.
Vehicle Wrap
The impact was significant. These IPA volume packages became the lynchpin of BuffBrew’s transformation from “Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co.” into “Buff Brew,” a brand that was playful, modern, and built to compete at scale. The multipack strategy helped BuffBrew earn stronger distributor support, expand shelf space, and move into new consumer occasions. It cemented BuffBrew’s place as one of the top ten producing breweries in Texas and played a key role in winning CultureMap’s Tastemaker Award for Brewery of the Year. Beyond sales, the IPA packages demonstrated that BuffBrew could merge creativity with accessibility by delivering hometown culture, cutting-edge flavor, and mass-market presence all in one.
