That saison wasn’t even that strong, honestly

Background and Description: The Stumbling Monk is a local bar that serves Belgian and Old-World style beers and not much else. It has been a constant in Capitol Hill for 20 years and in the changing neighborhood climate, it is a refuge for serious beer lovers, intellectuals and other local characters. There is little in the way of decor or polish—every ounce of effort goes into sourcing the weird and wonderful beer. We wanted to create a brand that would be easy and inexpensive for the owner to deploy and would leverage a passionate group of customers that could help build this community organically.

Project Goals:

The Stumbling Monk is a special place—and it’s not for everyone. The bar has basically no branding at all—and most people like it that way. As designers, we wanted to strike a balance that honored the spirit of the bar and that wouldn’t alienate their current fans. The bar doesn’t have a phone or a website or any social media, so we wanted to create a solution that would delight people and encourage them do some of that word-of-mouth work.

Process:

Concept

To start our rebrand, we researched the history of The Stumbling Monk, the customers and the competition. What makes this bar different is how devoted they are to the beer they serve, and how devoted their customers are in return. Many customers are long-standing, passionate fans who love The Stumbling Monk not only for the beer, but also for the laid back atmosphere that allows them to pair that beer with a good book, a game of chess or a great conversation—something that is increasingly rare in a fast-growing neighborhood. This relationship between the bar, the beer and the people lead us to our concept: Curious beer for curious folk.

Trademark

We spent a few evenings sketching logos while soaking in the atmosphere of The Stumbling Monk and sampling at least one glass of saison. We had a lot of fun playing with gothic lettering and came up with more than a few inebriated abbots in our process. Instead, we kept it simple with a slightly weathered blackletter face called Black Madness and a subtle nod to the stumbling irreverence of the name. (The red is the color of your cheeks after a couple of those saisons!)

Different colored razors

So cooooooool…..