The Cool Story Behind Callister Brewing’s Stag Logo

Branding Vancouver look at some of the more interesting logos and icons that appear in Vancouver’s food and beverage scene. Some of the explanations will be long and others short, but the goal of deeper understanding will be constant. If you want the backstory of a particularly compelling local brand revealed, let us know via @scoutmagazine and we’ll try to figure it out.

The Brand: Callister Brewing

Designed by: Chris Lay (Co-founder and Brewmaster)

Some backstory, as told by Chris: “The name for Callister Brewing comes from a little park in East Van called Callister Park, located on Renfrew between Oxford and Cambridge Streets. There used to be a stadium there that was owned by the PNE. My grandfather was its caretaker from 1949 until 1970, when they closed it down. They lived in a little suite under the stands. In fact, my father grew up there from the time he was about 8 years old. There is a great photo [see above] that appears as an advertisement for the Stadium in the Province Newspaper, in which you can see my grandmother’s laundry hanging in the stands.”

“The logo itself is represented in two parts: the Stag and the word mark. The stag is present in family crests for both myself and my partner, Diana McKenzie. We wanted something very strong, but that could be represented very simply on everything from business cards to growlers and t-shirts, so we went with the simple silhouette style. The only down side is that it is sometimes mistaken for the Browning Firearms logo. The word mark, in a rough typewriter style, represents the somewhat rough-around-the-edges feel of East Van and our own do-it-yourself mentality to opening our brewery.”

The East Van brewery continues to make history as Canada’s first “co-working” brewery. In fact, past ‘Branding Vancouver’ subject Superflux (in their former incarnation, Machine Ales) operated out of the East Hastings establishment during their early days.