How to Redefine a Brand While Keeping Its Legacy Intact.

Jax Beer was started by William Ostner (and his good friend Jacon Bongner), a German Immigrant that saw an opportunity to elaborate German style pilsner beer in the US. He opened the factory in Jacksonville, Florida as a means to spread this beer across Florida and Southeast US. During the prohibition era, Jax turned its head to elaborate other non-alcoholic beverages including root beer, ice cream, and ginger ale.

Shortly after prohibition, they entered into a legal dispute with the Jacksonville Brewing Company in New Orleans, which ultimately ended in Jax selling their rights to the Jacksonville Brewing Company.

In 1974, Jacksonville Brewing Company started to face financial difficulties, and was bought out by Pearl Brewing Company. Ultimately they got bought out by Pabst Blue Ribbon and stopped production of Jax branded beer.

Since there are so many versions of Jax, we decided to keep the original German, black adder typography, clean it up a bit and make it more minimalist. We chose the gold and the red to make it stand out in a sea of pilsner beers that are blue and green and because the color red engages with the audience as a color of energy, power, good fortune and prosperity. The gold color has been something that was used across the Jax (New Orleans) packaging. Gold is also a color that expresses richness and reflects the flavor and quality of the beer.