Parkway Brewing Converts Labeling Process
By Dana W. Todd
With the frenzy of craft brewery grand openings coming to a close, the ever-evolving industry is showing signs of maturation. Although it is still growing, there is some deceleration as brewery closings increased over the last two years, according to the annual State of the Craft Brewing Industry presentation at the 2017 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America. The craft breweries that remain are maturing in their production processes, marketing, and customer service — the way an emerging company becomes a well-established company in any market. “When I began working in the industry, there were about a dozen breweries in Virginia,” says General Manager and Brewmaster Mike Pensinger of Parkway 58 | Carolina Brew Scene | Fall 2018
Brewing Company, which has been in business since 2012. “Now there are 230.” As one of the “seasoned” players in Virginia, as least as far as the craft brewing industry goes, Parkway Brewing is maturing in its processes. Earlier this year, the company decided to change over its labeling production process, including the type of labels it uses on about 25 different brews it produces annually. Since the company’s inception, it has used traditional cut and stack labels on its bottles. Some in the company felt it was time to explore making a change to pressuresensitive labels (PSLs) to take advantage of expanded marketing capabilities and perhaps cost-saving benefits. Others were not as quick to jump on the bandwagon.
“I used cut and stack my entire career, and I have had my feet wet since 1982 when I joined the bottled water industry,” says Parkway Brewing’s packaging manager, Paul DeLuise. “So I was against switching to PSLs at first.” After further internal discussion, however, DeLuise changed his mind and decided PSLs were the right labeling choice for Parkway Brewing’s current situation. “There was no learning curve with PSLs,” he says, “but we did discuss keeping room on the line for a glue machine (for cut and stack labels). We threw it out because we ultimately didn’t need it.” Parkway Brewing chose Blanco, a label and labeling equipment supplier just a couple of miles down the road in Salem,
