CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With more than 340 breweries and brew pubs in North Carolina, businesses are looking for ways to set themselves apart.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Art is allowing Resident Culture Brewing Company to promote its brand and attract customers

  • Maryssa Pickett is behind the unique designs at Resident Culture

  • The artwork is more important now for Resident Culture because they distribute to grocery stores and bottle shops

 

Some of them, such as Resident Culture Brewing Company, are matching art to their craft.

“We try to be pretty creative with the beers that we brew and wanted that to be reflected in the brand and the artwork that we have on the outside of the cans,” Resident Culture Co-owner and Head Brewer Chris Tropeano says.

Maryssa Pickett is the artist behind the brewery’s unique designs.

“It is cool to see your work on a finished product that is out there for a consumer to buy,” Pickett says.

Pickett moved to North Carolina in 2017 for the job at Resident Culture and since then she has been creating labels ranging from fun and lighthearted to more sensitive and somber.

“I think it's really cool how beer and the artwork can go hand in hand to like really bring something to a level where people care about it in a different way,” Pickett says.

Tropeano says customers comment on the labels frequently.

"We have customers email us all the time, just asking [about] them, asking us to send them labels and cans,” Tropeano says.

He hopes customers enjoy both the beer and the artwork, but he’s grateful the labels are making their products stand out, especially now that the brewery is distributing to grocery stores and bottle shops.

"We think that the artwork is definitely a huge part of why the sales have been good for us during the pandemic,” Tropeano says.

Amid the pandemic, Resident Culture Brewing is also canning more beer than before to make up for having fewer guests in the taproom.