CALGARY - Calgary-based Big Rock Brewery is going back to its roots as a craft beer company with a renewed and refreshed brand.

Bob Sartor, the brewery’s president and chief executive, told the Herald that the re-packaging of its core products is just one part of an overall strategy the company is embarking upon this year as it returns to its raison d’etre - making quality beers for consumers.

“The message we are sending to consumers is after a period of I’m going to call it stasis, or slumber, the brand has re-awakened and re-discovered its roots,” said Sartor. “If you look at the roots of this brewery, the roots on which it was founded by Ed McNally, it was real simple. It’s just to brew outstanding, quality craft beer. Tolerate no compromise in the production of your product.

“One of the things I felt that had happened over a period of time is compromise started to creep into the brewery when we started brewing beers like lime beer. That was a me-too beer following the big boys. When we brewed Gopher, that was a me-too beer trying to capture the Molson Canadian market. We had no business doing that stuff. We are a craft brewer and we needed to behave like a craft brewer and we are now.”

Sartor said the new strategy will ensure that the company never lets that compromise creep back into its operations.

Sartor took over the reins of the company in March 2012 replacing the retiring founder McNally who started the brewery in 1985.

It has eight core beers as well a number of limited edition beers and three seasonal beers each year.

The new packaging includes its Signature Series beers: Traditional, Grasshopper, Warthog, McNally’s Extra, Scottish Style Heavy, SAAZ, Honey Brown, and IPA. Each of these brands feature new bottle, can and box designs.

“The re-packaging was just part of an overall re-positioning of the Big Rock brand. We needed to change what we brewed, we needed to change how we brewed it, we needed to change how we went to market, what we were sponsoring, what media we were using when we did go out to talk about Big Rock and our beers,” said Sartor.

“Part of that re-positioning was putting forward new packaging designs that would recapture the imagination of the consumer but more importantly capture the spirit of the beer we were making. It was a really tough thing to do.”

For example, he said, the Traditional brand has been around for 28 years. Sartor said the company had to find a way to respect the tradition behind the brand but at the same time bring it into today’s marketplace.

The company sells its product from Ontario to the British Columbia.

“Brands often get tired and require a refresh to keep the product current and relevant. If you look at the evolution of many professional sports teams from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the B.C. Lions - their logo and jerseys continue to evolve and change with their market,” said David Finch, assistant professor of marketing at the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University.

“In the case of growth companies, such as Big Rock, which has seen a significant expansion of their brands over the past number of years - a packaging refresh allows you to create both a distinct identity and position for each product, while also allowing you to establish a level of packaging consistency that may have been lost as new products were added ad hoc.”