Refreshing
’t IJ definitely hasn’t been sitting still during the lockdown. It was a perfect opportunity for us to finally sit down and make good on our plan to take another look at all of our labels.
The last update was more than 10 years ago, and we were eager to get started designing new ones!
We also went by the shops to see how our beers are presented on the shelves, and we noticed that sometimes they’re a bit hard to find. So it’s time for a bit more character to make our labels stand out from the crowd!
Some major changes, and some minor ones
We took a good close look at every one of our labels. Some only needed minor changes, but others got an entirely new design. Our personal favourite Session IPA – the one we enjoy drinking after work – needed some extra attention. So we put it through a complete metamorphosis. But the veteran Columbus label also got some well-deserved schwung. We even overhauled the popular design for the IPA. It’s definitely going to raise some eyebrows! When it was released, the slightly risqué image of the tattooed lady was chosen to emphasise that the IPA was different from the classic ‘t IJ beers: inspired by a trip to the USA, rather than the Belgian brewing tradition. An intentionally unique label for an intentionally unique beer. But now we brew a much broader selection of beers, and the IPA is a perfect fit. So since we were updating the other labels anyway, it was time for something new. It took some getting used to the change, but we can’t help but love how it looks!
New beers
Our newest beers also needed new labels, of course. Blondie traded her can for the familiar longneck bottle, to make it recognisable as a real Belgian blonde next to our dubbel and tripel. We also dressed the new Vrijwit to look more like its big brother IJwit. And our latest special beer, Fruity, got a label that looks as colourful and fruity as the beer inside tastes.
Rollout
You won’t see all of the new bottles on the shelves right away (nor in the cafés for that matter, at least until they re-open). It’ll take a few weeks to roll them all out. As the bottles with the old labels are sold (and drunk), we’ll replace them with the new ones. And hopefully you’ll enjoy them as much as we do!
