A new look up there at Barnstormer

Barnstormer Betty, top picture, has been swapped
out for a purely aviational logo, bottom, at Barrie's
Barnstormer Brewing and Distilling Company. It's
a move that was a long time coming, according to
Brad Ariss, their creative director. Digging the look

The beauty of talking to Brad Ariss, the creative director of Barnstormer Brewing and Distilling Company up in Barrie, is that even the shortest of conversations will glean a gem or two of very cool information. (And never forget, people, knowledge is power... uncontrollable raging power that will unravel the fabric of the very Universe and lay waste to all who oppose you!!!! Or maybe you'll just learn about beer. It could go either way, really. Probably more towards the second one.)

But a longer conversation with Brad is a veritable certified gold-mine, laden with so many shiny nuggets that you're not sure where to swing the pick first. (That's prospector land-minin' talk right thar...)

Now Brad was recently assigned to set up a more streamlined, workable sales structure for his beer-loving, aviation fly-boys and fly-ladies up there and once doing so, he has been slowly sliding back towards two other responsibilities - the lesser being their voice on all social media and the larger being, well, that whole creative direction thing.

As you are about to see, Brad has been a busy (what's the proper aviation term?) wing-nut these days. And if you pay as close attention as most of us craft lovers do to Ontario breweries, you've perhaps already noticed one thing.

Barnstormer Betty, their 1940s style pin-up girl logo, is gone. Oh sure, you'll still see her on some cans here and there as the new designs are slowly phased in but soon that will be like, well, the 1940s itself - history!

Now to be clear, dealing with the logo, thought by some to be a sexist throw-back of yesteryear, was an immediate priority for Brad and the brewery as you want your product, especially craft beer, to be as gender inclusive as possible. Looking past the obvious negative social ramifications, my thinking is that's just plain smart business.

Ladies and gentlemen, a sneak peek at the new
label for Barnstormer's signature IPA, Flight
Delay. While the basic design is based on 1960s
pop art, that of a traveler slightly panicked as
she scans the departure board, the base colours
will change to match that month's fruit tweak
to the renowned IPA. (Easy now - the regular
one will still be available year-round. Breathe!!)

Half the people you encounter at a Craft Beer Festival or relaxing in craft breweries are women. You want to potentially alienate half your clientele with outdated imagery, hey, you go nuts. The local Chamber of Commerce won't be knocking on your door with any Job Well Done Award anytime soon.

And Brad was more than happy to redesign it. "It is, indeed, a full logo change. I've been wanting this for a while. I appreciate what the brewery had in mind with a pin-up girl. It made perfect sense for the brand but I wanted to focus on aviation (the brewery theme) - just in a more artistic way."

So Barnstormer Betty is gone for good, Brad? "Yeah, bye bye Betty. I think it's time." After more than four years, Betty has left the plane, walked across the tarmac and disappeared forever into the hangar.

But because we're talking Brad here, it's a lot more than a logo change. The brewery, which first opened in late 2014 with the name Barnstormer Brewing and Pizzeria (seriously, I love that), is about to relaunch, rebrand and one of the first on the Re-Do List is their customer favourite Flight Delay IPA.

But a quick aside or two. First, that pizzeria thing. When they opened, they quickly became renowned for their delicious stone-fired personal pizzas. Their ranking on their Facebook page is 4.7 out of 5 Stars. That's virtually a perfect score for a restaurant.

A new design by Brad for Barnstormer's Absolute Altitude Saison, including
the new logo. I went extra-large with this one because I loved the design, the
colour shift from top to bottom and the modern imagery. I tell you, if this is a
taste of what's in store from the brewery, we are in for a colourful, wild ride.

No one ever scores a perfect five because customers can be (what's the phrase again?) whiny keyboard warrior bitch-boys. To get the equivalent of a 94% in the customer service industry is phenomenal. That speaks volumes to the food, the ambiance, the beer selection and most especially, the servers. So kudos to the brewery airline crew for that.

But the second is a story that still cracks me up. One of my first dealings with Barnstormer (and thus Brad) online was regarding a Twitter issue. Every time, I mentioned Flight Delay on Twitter, it triggered some crazy nanobot that instantly sent me about five responses from different "people" all saying the same thing. "Was your flight delayed? You may be eligible for a refund from the airline if you go to this link!" That I was talking about a beer in a glass taking off from the coaster and landing in my mouth successfully - on time, every time - seemed to elude the little cyber nanobots, programmed only to see the words "flight delay." I'm not sure how Brad resolved the issue with Twitter - only that he did - but some day I will ask him. I won't even begin to understand the answer but I'll nod sagely and have a beer in my hand so it's all cool.

Snapd Barrie was at Barnstormer in the Summer of
2016 to get this shot of the crew opening their "Hop
Garden Patio." That's Brad on the left, super-brewer
Jeff Woodworth in the middle and Dustin Norlund,
who owns the whole insane asylum on the right. And
yes, I've been there and there are hop vines growing
on the trellis framework around the patio. Very cool.

Okay, back to the rebranding. I veer off course at times but hey, many pilots do. It's in our blood. Just ask brewery owner-founder Dustin Norlund. The dude once built a plane. From scratch. With his damn hands. Frikkin Beast Mode stuff right there.

Turns out Brad is pretty damn happy with the rebranding thus far although truly, it has only just begun. When he fired through some of the new artwork, I was pretty impressed and told him so.

"Thanks, man," he responded. "This is the first work I've done that I'm really happy with."

With Flight Delay IPA, it's a core design - a 1960s Pop Art style with a traveler looking at a Departure Board at an airport and she's doing what we all do. Panicking to see when the flight leaves.

But Head Brewer Jeff Woodworth has plans for Flight Delay (and others) this year and he plans to tweak the brewery classic with a different flavour profile each month. So Brad and a designer buddy created a can that could stay the same but swap in new colours each month to represent the new fruit or spice additions to the recipe. Sounds like the designer is ready for it. "We're doing a twist with Flight Delay every month this year. It's a program I want to keep up."

Wait, is that Flight Delay IPA with Pineapple
and Jalapeno? Can someone go check on Jeff
Woodworth and make sure everything's okay
at home? Crazy brewers and their concoctions.

And here, my friends, is the designer's mind at work. (Enter with caution.) "I wanted a black and white can with strong hits of colour across it. The hard part was getting the graphics and lay-out. Now that it's done, I just need to change a few colours and maybe add a fruit icon."

So he's set with the radical Flight Delay revamp, then? Oh yeah, he noted, "Good for eternity now." So new colour each month, new look each time, I asked? "Essentially, yes. It keeps things easy on my end and makes the cans collectible."

But I'll tell you something for free. Just a few weeks ago on Twitter, my video-blogging pal, Drunk Polkaroo, was talking with some frustration about an objectionable beer can he had seen in the LCBO. Craft beer, too. Likely a female form in the art. I didn't ask  but let's face it, it's a damn good guess. So I just kinda said to him that it seemed that quietly, the label objectification was slowly disappearing. No doubt, if you're a woman, there's still a long ways to go but the footprints at least seem to be aimed in the right direction. Two days later, I noticed Barnstormer's rebranding for the first time and realized, well, guys like Brad are certainly fighting the good fight. It seems we all want a Craft Beer World that's just about good craft beer. And we want an inclusive one because, well, the beer is really good stuff. And in this case, you get some wicked art out of it!! Okay, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time, I remain...