With its new brewery, the Garage, expected to open in late September, Monday Night Brewing has given itself a complete makeover, switching from bottling to canning for most of its beers, redesigning the packaging, introducing two new brews, and retiring two old favorites.
Photograph courtesy of Monday Night Brewing
The new cans, designed by Monday Night cofounder Jonathan Baker, each feature a white background with vividly colored ties. Each tie has a pattern that is symbolic of the brew—Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale features Tartan, Blind Pirate Blood Orange IPA features oranges and swords, Slap Fight IPA is decorated with comic book-style action bubbles, and so on. Baker says the design allows Monday Night to more easily add core beers to the lineup.
“Our old look featured one color that defined a particular brand, and at a certain point you just start running out of colors,” Baker explains. “So we just wanted to update and modernize the branding, to make it a little more fun and be able to give each beer more of its own personality.”
Slap Fight, Blind Pirate, Drafty Kilt, and Fu Manbrew Belgian-style Wit will make up Monday Night’s new core canning lineup, along with two new styles, Han Brolo Pale Ale and Dr. Robot Blackberry Lemon Sour. Those two will replace Eye Patch Ale and Nerd Alert.
Photograph courtesy of Monday Night Brewing
Baker says that Eye Patch, an IPA, was phased out due to the brand’s other two IPA styles becoming much more popular. But Nerd Alert is one of the taproom’s most requested and will remain as a draft option at the location and sold in kegs to bars.
Han Brolo is an unfiltered IPA that is low in alcohol (4.7 percent) and full of wheat, which Baker says gives it a “chewy mouthfeel.” The low ABV means it’s designed for easy drinking. “The brewers basically brewed this beer for themselves,” Baker says.
Dr. Robot starts as a pilsner malt base that is then soured, and flavored with blackberry juice and lemon zest. Thanks to the fruit juice, the final pour is bright pink.
And while not on the core lineup, Monday Night has a new fall seasonal coming in October. Dust Bunny is an East Coast IPA with branding designed to resemble wallpaper you might find in a child’s room in the 1940s. Baker describes it as hazy, juicy, and almost opaque in color thanks to the heavy amount of wheat in the brew.
Photograph courtesy of Monday Night Brewing
The brewery is also changing how it produces its barrel-aged and sour beers. The Black Tie series, previously sold in 500 ml and 750 ml bottles, will now be canned and sold in 4-packs, starting with the Bourbon Barrel Drafty Kilt in November. The Garage will become Monday Night’s primary facility for brewing barrel-aged and sour beers and as such, they will be launching a new 500 ml and 750 ml bottled series, aptly called the Garage Series.
Photograph courtesy of Monday Night Brewing
Among the first beers that will be available when the Garage opens are a Sour Double Barrel Drafty Kilt that is aged in bourbon and rum barrels with cherries, an Imperial Breakfast Brown Ale aged in bourbon barrels with coffee and vanilla, a Rum Barrel Imperial Stout aged on coconut and vanilla beans, and Brett Brux Belgian Strong aged in Sauvignon Blanc barrels. Cognac barrel-aged barleywine, barrel-aged fruited saisons, fruited and spiced goses, and true lacto Berliner Weis are also set to be brewed at the Garage within the next year.
