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What’s in a Name?
Salty Pecker Begins New Brewery Journey in Norton Shores
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A year like no other forced all of us to change and redirect — terms that all of us are so tired of hearing — including our brewery friends. For some, opportunity lay beyond those pivots, and City Built Brewing in Grand Rapids took a chance, and created a whole lineup of beautiful, award winning labels for their beer that have been turning heads, as well as taste buds in West Michigan.
In March, City Built was awarded first place by USA Today readers for best beer label for their vibrant, multi-layered beauty that they created for their Czech pilsner beer named Prague Underground. In a similar poll for the national publication, they were also named the third best brew pub.
BY Amy Sherman FOR MiBrew Trail
Michigan brewer building a frothy following through art
MIBREW TRAIL MAGAZINE
WINTER 2022
City Built Brewing in Grand Rapids will release Highland S'More, a Scotch barrel-aged imperial stout sometime in late October. The label features a busy design, multiple layers of color and texture. (Amy Sherman/For MiBrew Trail)
“Where we started to get steam, and started to get attention, was when we hired Kyle DeGroff Design,” said City Built owner Edwin Collazo, of hooking up with the designer in December 2019. “I had heard of Kyle, because he had done murals. We got connected, and I sent him a note. I thought it would be really cool to have a conversation, and share more with him about City Built.”
City Built had seen some of DeGroff designs, and was interested in working with them, no matter the cost. The company’s designs “scratched an itch” that the brewery didn’t know that they had, according to Collazo.
Collazo didn’t really know DeGroff, he just “knew of him” after seeing some of his art, specifically the mural that he had created out of bottle caps at the HopCat in Grand Rapids located on the Beltline at Knapp’s Corners.
Let me tell you, that mural is a thing of absolute beauty and inspiration. Stunningly gorgeous, it features thousands and thousands of colorful bottle caps, all artistically arranged along a wide expanse of wall, to create a centerpiece for the restaurant. Hard to believe that he underestimated the mural by several hundred thousand bottle caps, according to Collazo.
Artist Kyle DeGroff creates his bottle cap mural masterpiece at HopCat Knapp's Corners in Grand Rapids. Since then, he's been working on a lineup of labels for City Built Brewing. (Chris Knape for Barfly Ventures/Courtesy Photo)
“His math was a little off,” Collazo explained with a laugh. You’d never guess it when you see it in person.
Collazo reached out to the artist, and they started talking right before COVID. Once the pandemic hit, and City Built had to switch up their brewery model to incorporate take-out, and move all the beer into cans, Collazo knocked on DeGroff’s door until he was introduced.
“It went from us hoping we could do one or two new brands a month, to we just produced an entire line up of brands,” Collazo said.
Lucky for the brewery, DeGroff had been working with fellow local artist Elliot Chaltry for BarFly, the parent company to HopCat. During the pandemic shutdown, BarFly allowed Chaltry to freelance a bit, and he brought his knowledge of special printing techniques to City Built.
“It was super gracious for them to allow him to do this,” Collazo said, giving a nod of thanks to Barfly.
Chaltry creates eye popping designs by layering colors and a slight metallic sheen to the label, giving it a 3-D quality that you can’t miss. The technique employs layering up to 6 layers of ink, that a local printer develops along with the art, to create what Collazo calls a “varnish”. The first time I saw cans with these labels on them, I literally stopped in my tracks. They truly are vibrant, with a bit of shine that catches your eye.
The Founders/GVSU partnership allowed design thinking students to interact in an authentic learning experience with a client to meet real world needs. Almost all of the students who participated in the partnership found working with Founders to be a positive experience and were excited to design an actual product. The project is a great example of how partnerships can be developed between the business community and higher education to engage in practical experiences that can help students prepare for future careers and creative endeavors. If Founders decides to implement any of the ideas or not, at the end of the project, GVSU design thinking students got to brew their own beer and "chase the what if."
Check out Hearst’s newest brand showcasing Michigan Breweries at MiBrewTrail.com.
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A stack of upcoming labels from City Built Brewing in Grand Rapids. The brewery works with local artists to create their multi-layered designs that have an eye popping quality about them. (Amy Sherman/For MiBrew Trail)
There’s a hidden “mickey” on each label to find. Look for a third eye somewhere on each one. This is a theme that Collazo was interested in exploring.
“People are just drawn by faces,” he said. “That’s just psychology.”
As pretty as a label might be, it doesn’t really matter if the liquid inside the can or bottle isn’t good. Thankfully, City Built puts just as much effort into the beer inside as they do on the outside. The lineup here is constantly changing thanks to head brewer Rob Qualis, and you are not going to find these beers in distribution, so you’ll need to make a pilgrimage to the westside of Michigan to visit their pub in Grand Rapids. You won’t regret it. Snuggle into a open booth, or grab a chair by one of the sunny windows overlooking Monroe Street. That Prague Underground, the beer that won that big national award, has nothing to hide behind, and is top-notch quality. The Monroe Weisse combines just the right amount of tropical fruits with a slightly sour beer base, for a refreshing little brew. And the seltzer here is one of my favorites in the state, with a nice neutral base without any off-flavors, and the ability to add natural fruity flavors to it for a low-calorie refresher. In addition to their own brews to be found at City Built, look for collaborations between them and other area breweries as well.
The brewery features a Puerto Rican inspired menu, with dishes like yuca fries, bori balls, or a loaded beer cheese dip known as "queservesa picadillo." Don’t miss the uber popular tacos, there are multiple styles to choose from, I’m a big fan of the shrimp diablo. Currently on the weekends, there is a special pop-up menu happening, featuring Cajun and Creole cuisine under the moniker Le Grande Zombie.
After your visit, grab a few four packs of these gorgeous beers to take home with you. They are award winners, inside and out.
“It’s almost a bigger deal for a small brewery like us to create all of these unique labels,” said Collazo.
“These really have to hit the mark,” Harding added. “It’s more of a risk. A big brewery, people might just drink the beer regardless.
Here, it might be buying a beer because of a cool label. That cooler might be filled with delicious beer, but people might purchase based on a cool label. And then say, wow this beer is really good too. Label decisions are really more risky.”
“People have said that the label is really cooler than the beer,” Collazo said with a laugh. “You have to woo them. It was good fortune that things happened the way that they did.” Go get seduced by City Built, the label might draw you in, the beer will keep you coming.
Artist Kyle DeGroff creates his bottle cap mural masterpiece at HopCat Knapp's Corners in Grand Rapids. Since then, he's been working on a lineup of labels for City Built Brewing. (Chris Knape for Barfly Ventures/Courtesy Photo)
City Built typically comes to the artists with a beer name, and a storyline, and then lets them run with their ideas.
“The art just kind of lends itself to be more dimensional,” Collazo said.
And while the art might lend itself to this, it took a local printer to really push the printing process to create the layering process.
Together, DeGroff and Chaltry ended up doing about 30 different pieces of art for City Built beers.
“It was kind of a perfect storm in my opinion,” said Steph Harding, brand manager for City Built Brewing. “It started pre-COVID. Then the shutdown, and all of a sudden we didn’t have a lot of time. But this line happens.”
There’s a hidden “mickey” on each label to find. Look for a third eye somewhere on each one. This is a theme that Collazo was interested in exploring.
“People are just drawn by faces,” he said. “That’s just psychology.”
As pretty as a label might be, it doesn’t really matter if the liquid inside the can or bottle isn’t good. Thankfully, City Built puts just as much effort into the beer inside as they do on the outside. The lineup here is constantly changing thanks to head brewer Rob Qualis, and you are not going to find these beers in distribution, so you’ll need to make a pilgrimage to the westside of Michigan to visit their pub in Grand Rapids. You won’t regret it. Snuggle into a open booth, or grab a chair by one of the sunny windows overlooking Monroe Street. That Prague Underground, the beer that won that big national award, has nothing to hide behind, and is top-notch quality. The Monroe Weisse combines just the right amount of tropical fruits with a slightly sour beer base, for a refreshing little brew. And the seltzer here is one of my favorites in the state, with a nice neutral base without any off-flavors, and the ability to add natural fruity flavors to it for a low-calorie refresher. In addition to their own brews to be found at City Built, look for collaborations between them and other area breweries as well.
The brewery features a Puerto Rican inspired menu, with dishes like yuca fries, bori balls, or a loaded beer cheese dip known as "queservesa picadillo." Don’t miss the uber popular tacos, there are multiple styles to choose from, I’m a big fan of the shrimp diablo. Currently on the weekends, there is a special pop-up menu happening, featuring Cajun and Creole cuisine under the moniker Le Grande Zombie.
After your visit, grab a few four packs of these gorgeous beers to take home with you. They are award winners, inside and out.
“It’s almost a bigger deal for a small brewery like us to create all of these unique labels,” said Collazo.
“These really have to hit the mark,” Harding added. “It’s more of a risk. A big brewery, people might just drink the beer regardless.
Here, it might be buying a beer because of a cool label. That cooler might be filled with delicious beer, but people might purchase based on a cool label. And then say, wow this beer is really good too. Label decisions are really more risky.”
“People have said that the label is really cooler than the beer,” Collazo said with a laugh. “You have to woo them. It was good fortune that things happened the way that they did.” Go get seduced by City Built, the label might draw you in, the beer will keep you coming.