"Our sales have increased 60% on average ever since the new packaging came out," reports Ross Elliott, brewmaster and plant operations manager. The new de-sign is direct-printed flexographically by Image Pac Graphics' parent company MacMillan Bathurst (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) in 5 colors on 125# overstrength, B-flute corrugated with a 38# outside fully bleached liner. The quality of the post-printed image competes closely with flexo preprint, due in part to the fact that the artwork was designed by Image Pac Graphics from the very beginning with the flexo process in mind. Careful consideration was given to corrugated's tendency towards increased dot gain in flexo printing. The brand name and color scheme varies for each of the four flavors the microbrewer produces, although common to all is a center vignette of the island and a background vignette depicting an early 1900s scene of the very street on which the com-pany's new brewery stands. The lack of a varnish adds to the rus-tic effect. The beers sell in the premium end of the market, fetching $15.50 Canadian for a 12-pack and between $8 and $9 Canadian for a six-pack.
