Modern Toss is famed for its surprising twists on its greeting cards, well now the brand is going in another unexpected direction too – into craft beer! Brewed in Arundel, the Ditch Scooper is described as ‘a refreshing session amber pale ale with floral fruit and citrus notes’. While Toss’ other beer, Horse Piss is ‘a smooth, pale craft lager made using the best German malt, hops and yeast’.
Revealing how this brand diversification came about, Becca Easey, Modern Toss’ creative business development manager told PG Buzz that the idea of moving into beer had been on the cards for a couple of years “but wasn’t a possibility until we met master brewer and ex bio-chemical analyst Mark H Lehhman down the pub.”
Several tastings later, Toss Beer was born, with Horse Piss and Ditch Scooper being the first two releases though a further two more brews are planned for later in the year.
Currently the beers (sold in cans featuring the publisher’s distinctive artwork style) are exclusively through moderntoss.com, as a small batch brew. The company is now working on a way to make the beers available to trade retailers to take the brews nationwide!
As to why Modern Toss feels this is a natural step for a greeting card publisher, Becca responds: “It is a great gift solution, to buy a themed card and present. If a card makes you laugh, then why not also have a few beers that makes you laugh? We have a very loyal cult following, and a strong brand identity. In making a consumable, much like a greeting card, hopefully we will have loyal purchasers, who will come back time and again.”
Meanwhile, perhaps there’s something in the ether as another greeting card and gift company, Wraptious is seeing one of its artist’s work now featuring on bottles of gin from the Kinrara Distillery!
Artist Kat Baxter’s floral designs has blossomed for card and gift company Wraptious, but her work caught the eye of gin company Kinrara Distillery. After seeing her designs in a shop, the distillery was in no doubt that Kat would be the perfect artist to decorate its new Limited Edition Artist Gin!
Kat created a new Highland Cow design (‘Ginny the Coo’) for the brand, incorporating the gin’s blend of fruits and botanicals into her illustration. Kat was very positive about the experience:
“Due to the nature of my work, I discussed with them which botanicals they were thinking of putting in the gin and they were happy for me to work up some ideas using these as inspiration. I also incorporated in their estate tweed,” Kat revealed. While having never drawn fruit before, Kat enjoyed this new twist to her work. “It was also a challenge creating a design that would work well on a bottle and still look good on a smaller scale, without losing too much of the detail,” she added.
