What's in a title?

From Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/brewershirts 

When you hear "brewmaster" what comes to mind? In the craft beer industry today we might automatically think of a person with credentials, perhaps a deep formal education in brewing, chemistry or the like. With that background, the person would essentially learn the true art of craft brewing.

The definition of a brewmaster from Merriam-Webster is "a person who supervises the brewing process of malt liquors." Excellent, it's far more simplified than all the hype. I believe the main requirement for a "brewmaster" if I had to associate the title with a definition is simply a passion for making great beer and enjoying what you do. Everything else will follow suit including the improvements and tweaks to the recipes. If you love what you do, then you're good to go and anything can be learned. In order to do or have, you gotta "be" something first. In our case, we are happy and love making beer. We don't have tons of awards, formal education in brewing, but there is experience, know how and pure passion for our product, our company, and most importantly, our customers who totally rock! Without their feedback, support and comments, we would not be where we are now. We are also so thankful to have supportive networks of friends, family, employees, community, the city, Historic Manassas, and fellow brewers (homebrewers and professionals) and fellow business owners. 

What matters most in the end is whether people enjoy your beer. Pure and simple. If they do, then great and if not, then make adjustments accordingly. Does one need a formal education or some fancy title to be great at what they do? Absolutely not! The founders of GREAT companies dropped out of high school and college and many started billion dollar companies out of their garage. (Microsoft and Apple)

We at BadWolf Brewing Company could quite possibly be in the category of nothing more than "glorified homebrewers". That's cool, no seriously, who the hell cares where you came from if people enjoy the beer! One thing remains true and that is brewing is not just a science but it is an art and there is plenty of wiggle room to bend the rules to make new and exciting beers! Titles are the least of our worries. So relax people, it's just beer!

It's all about branding and logos, isn't it?

So many emails and suggestions come to us to "brand" our company with fancy logos and beautiful designs. In fact, some emails have arrived with people saying our logo particularly sucks. "Suck" is a harsh word but it sends a powerful message, they are remembering us ironically. Perfect, that is exactly what we want!! We have been compared to other breweries and companies and are told we "need" a logo. Maybe so, but our stance has always been people will remember us by our beer which has to speak louder. The simplicity of the font, wording and black background IS BadWolf's brand but it sure as hell is not fancy. Sometimes all you need is to KISS (keep it simple silly).

Another point to keep in mind is this, "What do you think of BadWolf in your mind when you hear the name?" You have automatically envisioned a concept or better yet, your very own logo, right? That is our hope that our brand drums up an image in your mind of something that one cannot forget.

Traditional marketing teaches us the idea that we have to go about marketing a certain way to get the message out there  but we have a unique view that the beer (our main product) should speak the loudest and IS the brand. If it doesn't speak loudly, then we have nothing. BadWolf is all about great beer and that my friends is everything.

So grab your t-shirt and wear it proudly! All of our t-shirts are made in the USA and printed locally! Our stickers, key chains, steins and 90% of the merchandise is USA made.