Some stories are too big to shrink to a trend. Christian Moerlein has brewed beer in Cincinnati for over 170 years—long before “craft” was a category. But in a market now saturated with hazy IPAs and small-batch narratives, this legacy brand risked getting lost trying to fit in. BLDG was brought in not to modernize the past, but to make the past matter again. We helped Christian Moerlein reclaim its place as the beer that built the city.
Previous brand efforts tried to ride the wave of craft culture, but Moerlein wasn’t built for that. It predates it. We made a strategic decision to stop chasing trends and start owning the brand’s truth. Moerlein isn’t craft. It’s classic. With that in mind, we positioned it as a local import, akin to a Guinness or Stella. With brewing credentials rooted in Reinheitsgebot, the famed German beer purity laws, the new strategy anchored Moerlein in tradition while elevating it with global credibility.
We avoided nostalgia for its own sake. Instead, we studied the visual DNA of Moerlein over the decades to build something truly lasting. A custom script logotype rooted in historical ephemera. Color-blocked can designs that nodded to heritage while standing tall on shelf. A system that felt both familiar and refined. This wasn’t a rebrand. It was a reframing of identity.
To bring a modern edge to legacy visuals, we used AI tools to simulate traditional stippling techniques. That allowed us to design campaign characters and scenes with historical texture, while keeping production agile and contemporary.
The revitalized Moerlein identity wasn’t just built for packaging. It scaled into restaurant design, tap handles, signage, and even branded activations at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium. That flexibility was intentional. We knew the brand had to live on-premise, online, and in environments where culture meets commerce.
Effectively leveraging nostalgia takes a level of awareness to understand not what’s old, but what’s timeless. The revitalized Christian Moerlein Brewing Company brand shows the ability to make a local product feel globally inspired, while still tapping into what made the brewery so iconic in the first place.
