HELTON BREWING COMPANY

CLIENT

Brian Helton

Phoenix, Arizona

BUILD TYPE

Brewery and Tasting Room
Property Repositioning

Helton Brewing Company, founded by Brian Helton, a certified Cicerone, wanted his flagship location to have a playful and relaxed atmosphere that would be a great place to enjoy the company of friends and family.  The brewery targeted a wide range of consumers and needed to be a place that all types of foodies, restaurateurs, sommeliers, chefs, brewers and beer enthusiasts would want to go after work or on their day off to enjoy a pint and work on their palate.  The brewery’s differential is not only the beer brewed on site but the educational aspects that Brian has intertwined into his offering to the public and home brewers alike.

The space needed to include a tap room and kitchen for beer and food pairings. A major part of Brian’s concept was to help educate the home brewers, but to help develop a deeper understanding of how flavors playoff each other. The brewery also needed to have room to grow as distribution picked up, as well as more social spaces.

The materiality was especially important in communicating Brian’s story.  With the infusion of reclaimed and humble materials and objects, such as plywood wall panels in the tap room and reclaimed metal sheeting used to frame out the kitchen wall.  Using the Helton brand color, yellow throughout to provide a contrast to all the natural materials and darker tones.  In the brewery, the floors were kept lighter and the walls dark to allow the stainless equipment would be the focal point of the space.  This also kept the space feeling dramatic and finished, while still meeting all the production requirements of a brewery.  As additional layers to the brand aesthetic, local artists were commissioned to custom murals and artwork creating a neighborhood hotspot and a highly desired destination.