Toolbox Studios Blog

Sneak Peek: New Alamo Tap Handles

Isn't it nice when a little metal, resin and paint come together to create something magical? After culling down some of the options and refining the prototypes, these tap handles are the next cool, creative idea from the Toolbox beverage design team. Be on the lookout for these beauties at your favorite watering hole beginning March 2010. For more info on Alamo, visit alamobeer.com. We're gonna need a lot more beer!

Celebrating 100 years of Shiner beer

Last weekend, account director Mark Broderick and president Rob Simons celebrated the Spoetzl Brewery’s 100th anniversary with a private tour and networking event hosted by the Texas chapters of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. Rob introduced Gambrinus Company CEO Carlos Alvarez as the keynote speaker. Plenty of live music, barbecue and cold Shiner Beer rounded out the festivities.

It's days like this that remind us why we love beverage marketing so much.

Product Review: Bud Light Golden Wheat

At Toolbox, we always have our ear to the street listening for the next cool product, service or trend. And after being tagged by some well-targeted online PR, I recently had the opportunity to sample Anheuser-Busch’s latest and greatest concoction, Bud Light Golden Wheat.

Bud Light's new Golden Wheat is, in a word, good. I was pleasantly surprised. It has a clean, light taste associated with Bud Light, but it’s different enough to make Bud Light fans feel as though they are broadening their horizons. From a marketing perspective, it makes sense. Americans are just now beginning to really try and accept wheat beer while AB is continually looking for new ways to gain market share by introducing new brands or new products under the flag of existing brands. They have made wheats before under the Michelob and Shock Top flags, but the Bud Light brand is huge. Beer geeks may look down at this as an attempt to make a corporate and less-than-authentic knock off of a Belgian-style wheat ale, and they may be right. But, as the average American beer consumer is coaxed out of their shell and into trying something unfamiliar, the whole American brewing community benefits. Call it a “gateway beer” to Craft for the uninitiated. AB’s sheer muscle behind the Bud Light brand, combined with catching the wave of a newly popular style of beer, should prove powerful and profitable. As for package design, that’s for another post...

The new ale's nationwide release is scheduled for October 5th, 2009. For more information, check out Anheuser-Busch's official press release.

by Mark Broderick, Toolbox Studios' Food and Beverage Account Director