Rooster’s Brewing Co. is marking a decade of canning its beers with refreshed look for the brewery’s year-round range.
In late 2014, the Harrogate-based brewery became the first of its size outside of London, and the first in Yorkshire, to install a canning line. A small range of three beers were the first to come off the line launched into the market shortly after. One of these beers was Baby-Faced Assassin, Rooster’s flagship IPA, which has gone on to become a bestseller and is currently listed by ASDA, Booths and Morrisons.
The Citra IPA is also set to launch within a new Sainsbury’s Yorkshire and North East regional listing in March. The IPA has also gone on to become the brewery’s most decorated beer, picking up awards at small pack competitions; both on the national and international stage.
Rooster’s has unveiled a refreshed, new look for its core range of beers, covering cask pump clips, keg badges and can artwork, including updated 4-packs of Baby-Faced Assassin – available in ASDA. With a ‘modern classic’ approach at the heart of the rebrand, the new artwork features a bold new typeface, and block colouring. Tom Fozard, Rooster’s Operations Director, said: “Rooster’s branding has evolved several times since being established in 1993. The latest update is sympathetic to what’s been in place for the past five or so years, drawing on what’s worked for us up until this point, but with an injection colour and a stronger set of fonts to help our beers stand out that little bit more. Separately, we’re working on a completely new concept for the design of the next beer to be released in the Assassin family, currently in development, which we’re really excited about.”
Set for launch in April, plans are in place for a new, gluten free offshoot of Baby-Faced Assassin to be released in 440ml can. Hazy-Faced Assassin, a 5.7% hazy IPA, as the name suggests, will the carry the same deceptively-drinkable clout as its namesake, albeit delivering a much softer and lighter experience appropriate with the style.
In the decade since canning for the first time, cans have become a staple of Rooster’s business and have proven to help revolutionise the brewery. A cask focussed brewery until 2014, the installation of Rooster’s first canning helped to spearhead growth and played a large part in the decision to upscale and relocate the brewery back to its original hometown of Harrogate in 2019.
“At the time, many viewed cans as an option only for larger breweries,” Tom Fozard recalls. “Inspired by the initial craft beer scene that developed in the US, investing in a canning line to able to package our beers ourselves aligned perfectly with our desire to control the quality of our beer from start to finish, grow the business and reach more drinkers. A decade on, we’re proud to have been at the forefront of what went on to become an industry-wide shift towards cans being the preferred package type when it comes to independently brewed craft beer.”
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For further information, please contact Tom Fozard on tom@roosters.co.uk or 01423 222312
@RoostersBrewCo (Instagram, Facebook & BlueSky).
Notes to Editors
About Rooster’s Brewing Company
Rooster’s Brewing Co. has always been an independent, family-run brewery, focussed on creating quality new world pale ales, with an emphasis on flavour and aroma.
It was established in 1993 by the pioneering brewer Sean Franklin, who developed a new style of beer that had, up to that point, never been tried in the UK before. At a time when most breweries were taking flavour out, Sean was trying to put more in, using imported flavourful hops from the west coast of America.
His pioneering and innovative approach began to turn heads, with Rooster’s flavour-packed beers standing out in a sea of brown beer – with its flagship pale ale, Yankee, leading the way. The awards began to pour in, with Rooster’s beers winning gold medals at the biggest and most renowned international and national beer awards.
Having won pretty much everything there was to win, in 2011 Sean decided to retire and chose to sell the brewery to Ian Fozard and his sons, Tom and Oliver, in a move that ensured Rooster’s would remain a family-owned brewery.
Ian has had an affinity with beer for over forty years, having been an active member of CAMRA since the 1970s and the founder of Market Town Taverns, which grew into a portfolio of 15 bars and pubs across Yorkshire.
Oliver, who has been brewing professionally since 2000, became the head brewer at Rooster’s, and Tom, also an active brewer, became the company’s commercial director. Oliver was awarded Brewer of the Year in December 2020 by the British Guild of Beer Writers.
In 2018, it became clear that Rooster’s was rapidly outgrowing its site in Knaresborough and in 2019 the decision was made to invest in a new state-of-the-art brewery and taproom. Finding the right location, that offered Rooster’s the opportunity to become part of the fabric of the local community wasn’t easy, but the team were delighted when the perfect space became available at Hornbeam Park in Harrogate. Over the course of 2019 and the early part of January 2020, the company created a bespoke, state-ofthe-art facility that it now calls home, in a move that saw it return to the town where Rooster’s was first started some twenty-seven years earlier.
For further information, please contact Tom Fozard on tom@roosters.co.uk or 01423 222312
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