Three of the new 16-ounce cans of Terminal Gravity beer, at right, tower over the familiar 12-ounce cans Thursday, May 11, 2023. Wallowa County's Terminal Gravity Brewery & Pub, Enterprise, added the taller cans as part of a branding refresh this spring.

ENTERPRISE — One of Enterprise’s signature eating — and drinking — establishments has taken the opportunity of reaching a production landmark to refresh its brand and its look.

Terminal Gravity Brewery & Pub rolled its five-millionth can of beer off the production line in February and has since then added new products and a new look.

“One of our beers, Landmark Lager, is going into 16-ounce cans, and so is one of our one-offs going forward that we may do only one time in 16-ounce cans,” said Grady Nelson on Thursday, May 11. Nelson is Terminal Gravity’s marketing manager. “It’s just an opportunity for us to have a new package format that’ll work well in things like BottleDrops (redemption centers). In certain formats it just makes sense. A beer like Landmark Lager, it’s really drinkable, it’s really crushable — you crush it quickly — and have a full pint.”

Nelson said Landmark Lager is one of TG’s India pale ales and was introduced in mid-March. The 16-ounce cans are an addition to the well-known 12-ounce cans.

An IPA is a hoppy beer style that originated in British India as British sailors sought a beer that would be easy to preserve on the long trips between India and Britain.

Same recipe

But the move to 16-ounce cans doesn’t change what’s inside.

“It’s a big thing for us to refresh the look of the cans, but the beer’s the same,” Nelson said. “Customers can expect the same beer they’ve always had. The recipes haven’t changed.”

It does give Nelson the chance to do what he does best — marketing.

“Marketing-wise, it gives us more space on the label, which is exciting for me,” he said. “The biggest switch that came along with the 16-ounce cans was refreshing the look of the labels. We did a brand refresh; it’s not a full rebrand. This is a company that’s been around for over 25 years and we’ve had a lot of different iterations of the TG brand and its visual identity so we felt like it was time to update that visual identity a little bit, so you see that on both the 12-ounce cans and the 16-ounce cans.”

Local ties

Part of that “visual identity” is the depiction of the Wallowa Mountains along the bottoms of the cans.

“That was something that was very important to us because we feel very connected to Wallowa County and Enterprise,” Nelson said. “A lot of our customers come from around the Pacific Northwest to visit Enterprise and the mountains. A lot of our brewing experience is tied to the location and people connect our beers to the location, so we wanted to make sure our packaging reflected that location.”

Although the beer is brewed here, the use of Wallowa County-grown crops has been limited. Nelson said in the past, they’ve used grain grown by local grain producer Cornerstone Farms Joint Venture and plan to do so again. That grain is malted in Baker City. However, no hops are strung in the county and so they come from the Yakima Valley, Washington, area.

“Most of our grains come from across the Pacific Northwest,” he said.

New offerings

TG is known for continually producing new beers. At any one time, the brewpub has 10 different beers on tap.

“Sometimes we do draft only and it’s just available in kegs,” Nelson said.

The newest is a special brew for the summer, Gemstone Cowboy.

“It’s one of my favorite beers we’ve ever made,” he said. “It’s delicious, 6.2% (alcohol) IPA, we’re calling it our summer IPA. It’s really refreshing. A little bit citrusy. The perfect beer for the summer.”

Gemstone Cowboy will be served until September. In October, Nelson said, TG will start its winter ale. Other beers at TG remain constant, he said.

As for the new 16-ounce cans, he said they have been well-received by beer enthusiasts in the couple of months since their introduction.

“They’re doing well so far,” Nelson said. “We’re still pushing them in the market, getting the word out.”