Colorado Springs brewery best known for flagship Scottish ale, but their lineup is about far more than one iconic pooch

By Kyle Kirves

My childhood neighbors had a Labrador retriever who was perhaps the world’s worst watchdog. The pooch — Pepper, by name — had a habit of showing her teeth to anyone who came along. Not with ferocious menace, mind you, but an unmistakable “C’mon in! Grab a beer!” grin of friendship.

I think about Pepper every time I have a Laughing Lab Scottish Ale from Colorado Springs-based Bristol Brewing Co. Evidently, I’m not alone in projecting a memorable canine onto the iconic image of Bristol’s flagship beer.

“Everyone sees their own dog or a dog they know in that label,” said Amanda Bristol, who co-founded and co-owns Bristol Brewing with her husband, Mike. “He is instantly relatable and a friendly face. It doesn’t matter if you have a Scottie or a Shih Tzu or a Doberman. The Laughing Lab is everybody’s dog.”

In fact, she’s heard time and time again that folks have chosen to name their own dogs “Bristol” as a tribute to Laughing Lab, still something that “amazes” and “humbles” her, she says.

“Laughing Lab,” Bristol’s first label dating back to 1994, is virtually synonymous with Bristol Brewing, but also emblematic of the creative philosophy that infuses everything Bristol does.

“Beer should be fun,” Amanda says. “Naturally, the quality of the beer is first and foremost. And we start there. But in terms of presenting it, stuffy, stodgy beer isn’t what we’re about. At all.”

That whimsical and fun approach applies to each beer in the flagship series. Fans of Bristol beer are familiar with their retro designs: the high-coiffed waitress of Beehive Honey Wheat, Mass Transit ale’s microbus, and the alpinist rendered in a near-woodcut on Compass IPA. And they should be: Bristol is one of the older operating craft breweries in the state, celebrating over 20 years in the business.

“I can remember a long time ago, us sitting around my apartment and looking at the labels that were out there and deciding we were going to go in another direction,” Amanda said, mentioning a few macro producers and some California craft brands by name. “No sheafs of wheat, no antiquated European imagery. Something that was colorful, engaging, and relatable. Maybe with a few inside jokes or references in there as well.”

Amanda said a favorite among the flagship line, image-wise, is the Red Rocket Pale Ale. Fans of the film Dr. Strangelove will get the reference of a man riding a rocket with beer in hand — though this one sports a business suit and a fedora instead of a cowboy kit and hat.

“It’s just kind of a quirky image that we came up with,” Amanda said. “The fact that it’s a businessman, maybe at the end of a long day, just enjoying the ride … that’s more what we’re about.”

Yet Bristol Brewing isn’t afraid to go dark, either. The labels for a new line of beers are inspired by former Colorado Springs resident genius Nicola Tesla.

“That reference guided everything else about the creative process for branding that series,” Amanda said of the Forgotten Genius line, which includes Automaton (white IPA), Wireless Warlock (barrel-aged stout), Knob Hill Station (Imperial rye IPA), and the ominously oxymoronic World Peace Death Ray (Imperial IPA). Each label in this series has a darker, edgier feel with imagery right out of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis on a black background.

“Tesla was a tortured man and an unusual character, but an amazing genius who died poor,” Amanda said. “This tribute is understandably a little darker.”

The labels are a striking departure and unlike any other label on the shelf.

One thing all Bristol brews share — whether they are flagship, Belgian series, Brewhouse series, or one-time seasonal offerings — is the iconic Bristol Brewing pint glass logo.

“It started as a mug when our designer created it and we shook our heads about it. This is craft beer! A mug is for macro beer, something pulled in a wagon behind big horses,” Amanda said.

The mug evolved into a pint glass, with big cartoonish bubbles sliding down the side, one of them suspended in space. It gives the pint a sense of motion, like it was just pulled and set in front of you.

“It’s simple and we love that simplicity for our primary mark,” Amanda said.

After nearly a quarter century of making and branding some of the first, and still among the best, Colorado craft beers, Bristol Brewing has quite a lot to be proud of. The diversity of their offerings is reflected in the dynamic contrasts of their artwork and branding choices, all of which reflect the laid-back nature of the brewers themselves, who put making great beer first, but the joy that comes with enjoying beer a close second.

When you pick up a few Bristol beers, you let the fun shine in.

Kyle Kirves is a solid dude who believes drinking beer should be a five-senses experience.