Drawn Agency | ColdFire Brewing

Glass of ColdFire beer on a wooden ledge with the brewery taproom and fermentation tanks blurred behind

ColdFire Brewing

Brewing at the intersections of art and chemistry, European traditions and Northwest flavors

ColdFire was born in 2016 when brothers and homebrewers Dan and Stephen Hughes decided to turn their love of craft beer into their livelihood — and we’ve been lucky enough to have worked with ColdFire before it even had a name. To get this venture off the ground, we first needed to find the right foundation for the brand and literally the right foundation for the first physical location. We went on to choose a name befitting the vision, helped shore up the business model for long-term success, and found a location that we could design into a space that would allow Stephen and Dan to comfortably work their magic. Later came signage, packaging, and events that organically pulled in all of the intersections of their local community.

Black-and-white shot of a ColdFire brewer in safety glasses holding up a bottle to inspect it

Black-and-white shot of a ColdFire Brewing worker bent over a steel tank with a process line overhead

Worker tending rows of stainless steel ColdFire fermentation tanks in the brewery

Bearded ColdFire worker in blue gloves hand-packing cans of beer in the brewery

Timeless Branding

We worked to design a brand that would timelessly carry this brewery and its ancient craft through many, many years of business. Keeping ColdFire’s traditional roots and Northwest style in mind, we anchored the brand with earthen hues and metallic and wooden surfaces.

Stack of square ColdFire Brewing letterpress coasters with copper hop emblem on a weathered wood table

Packaging a Pour

We designed ColdFire’s cans and bottles to match their personality: Clean and classic with a splash of copper and occasionally a Tangle of Tigers for good measure.

Row of black ColdFire Tangle of Tigers IPA cans with gold tiger artwork, lit dramatically

ColdFire Tangle of Tigers Gold IPA label with two intertwined gold tigers flanking the hop emblem

ColdFire Italian-Style Pilsner 'Indie Batch' label with hop emblem and green-white-red diagonal stripe

Three ColdFire So.Trek cans: Nelson IPA, Galaxy double IPA, and Motueka pale ale on a wood surface

ColdFire Brewing pilsner glass beside two cans of Italian-Style Pilsner Indie Batch on dark wood

Five ColdFire cans lined up: St. James IRA, Czech Pils, Northwest Ale, Cumulus Tropicalis IPA, Kite String IPA

Six ColdFire Indie Batch cans on a copper ledge under the headline 'Refining the Craft with every Indie Batch'

Designing A Public House

Beer is meant to be shared, so we designed a public house that literally invited the community right into the brewery — both were one and the same, without walls to separate brewers from patrons. Here at ColdFire, one and all are welcomed to share a pint, to enjoy the craft as friends and as families. A heritage wall pays homage to the brand’s intersections of art and science, of European and Northwest, with a tightly woven reminder of the communal feeling you’ll find at ColdFire.

ColdFire Czech Pils bottle beside 'The Public House' lettering over gold diagonal stripes

Person on a climbing wall installing angled plywood panels in a geometric diamond pattern

Bartender pouring a glass of ColdFire beer from the tap row in the taproom

Busy ColdFire taproom crowd beneath a striking diagonal woven-plywood feature wall and pendant lights

Couple in ColdFire Brewing shirts sharing pints of beer at a wood bar in the taproom

ColdFire Brewing taproom exterior at dusk with patrons seated outside and a neon Open sign

Patrons ordering at the bar inside ColdFire Brewing's taproom with woven wood ceiling

Five phone screens showing ColdFire Brewing social media ads for beer releases and events

ColdFire Brewing NW Ale poster with forest scene and beer stats mounted on a brick wall

Barrel-Aged to Perfection

ColdFire's barrel-aged program was three years in the making, and when the beers were finally ready to flow from barrel to bottle, we felt they deserved an elegant and stately package to honor their humble and patient arrival.

ColdFire The Sparrow and the Crow bottle beside barrel-aging racks; ABV 7.6%, Feb 2021

ColdFire Brewing barrel-aged beer bottles with colorful labels arranged in a tight grid

Row of ColdFire Brewing bottles with gray labels including Sparrow and the Crow and Wild James

Dark foamy beer in a ColdFire Brewing teku glass against a stainless steel tank

ColdFire brewer leaning over an oak barrel inspecting it, black and white

Hands cradling a snifter of dark ColdFire beer against a black background

ColdFire Sparrow and the Crow bottle, snifter and wood box with Gift an Award-Winning Best Cellar text

Hand-drawn ColdFire Eugene OR Brew Co. snifter glass illustration on a blue background

ColdFire Publican Club Official Member badge over a photo of barrels in the brewery

Where Science Meets Art

ColdFire Co-Founder and Brewmaster Stephen Hughes uses his background in microbiology to create extremely precise beer recipes, even capturing and identifying wild yeast on occasion. Today, the brewery is one part science and one part art — starting with wild yeast under a microscope but requiring an artist’s touch to transform into the award-winning brews the continue to come out of the tanks.