Atwater partners with local artist for new brand identity

Tony Roko has been busy. Of late the Detroit-based painter has been commissioned to create works for Lady Gaga, Jay Leno, and the Ford Motor Company — an impressive roster of clients to say the least. 

He also recently collaborated with Detroit's Atwater Brewery to create an entirely new brand identity for the beer maker. The brand's new theme, "Born in Detroit. Raised Everywhere." will be rolled out in a new campaign starting in January and Roko designed labels for each of Atwater's 26 brews including three new beers that are set to launch with the campaign at the beginning of the year. 

“Craft brewing is becoming a big business but it’s a business about good times. Brewing it and coming up with these new flavors and personalities is part of the fun,” Atwater Brewery owner Mark Rieth said in a release. “We’ve been all about Detroit since we brewed our first German-styled lagers 18 years ago and said we wanted to ‘bring Detroit everywhere.’ We’re now doing that with distribution in 27 states and Canada and still growing. Now we’re focused on making sure people remember us and think about us first and that’s what these new labels are intended to do.” 

For Roko, his pairing with Atwater seemed like a natural one. 

“Craft beer is an art movement in its own rite,” Roko said in a release. “What started as a single painting for one label for just 40 cases of beer five months ago has turned into designing 26 labels for one of Michigan’s most exciting breweries. It’s the greatest gig ever.”

Atwater's three new brews, Going Steady IPA, Corktown RYE IPA, and Tunnel Ram Imperial Bock, will be the first of the brewery's bottles to bare the new labels.