Courtesy/Maine Brews Cruise
The new logo features a number of iconic Maine images.
Updated: April 4, 2021
Maine Brew Bus rebrands as Maine Brews Cruise
The Maine Brew Bus is rebranding as Maine Brews Cruise to reflect an acquisition it made last year as it seeks to expand its national footprint.
Along with the name change, it unveiled a new Maine-flavored logo designed by Mark Nardo, a former Brew Bus Staff member, of Golden Moustache Designs. It incorporates Portland Head Light along with other iconic symbols including a chickadee (the state bird) and Maine lobster next to a frothy glass of beer in a hand.
Maine Brew Bus was founded in 2012 by husband-and-wife Zach and Allison Poole. In March 2020 it merged with Australian beer tourism company, Dave’s Travel and Events, to form Vestigo Travel Group. Vestigo then bought a majority stake in in Brews Cruise Inc., an Asheville, N.C.-based company that licenses and supports craft beverage tour operators nationwide.
The two-part deal was signed at the start of the pandemic, as described by Zach Poole in an episode of the Mainebiz podcast "The Day That Changed Everything."
Including Maine, Brews Cruise now has tour operations in eight cities across the country. In 2020, it added a new licensee in Walla Walla, Wash.
Later this year, new operators will begin offering craft beverage tours in greater Chicago and Philadelphia as the company seeks prospective licensees to develop tour operations elsewhere.
“When we acquired the Brews Cruise brand, I knew eventually I would want to bring all that we had built for the Maine Brew Bus completely into the fold,” Zach Poole said in Friday's news release.
"We have been working on the rebranding project for the past year, and I am excited to add Maine to the national family that Brews Cruise has been building for the past 15 years,” he added.
'Same high-quality tours'
Dave Phillips, of Dave's Travel and Events, noted that that very little will actually change with the tours, adding, “It will be the same great people providing high-quality tours and experiences, just under a new name and logo that has a national identity.”
He also said that Brew Bus tours in Massachusetts and Rhode Island will soon become Brews Cruise operations.
Don Littlefield, previously general manager of the Maine Brew Bus, will manage Brews Cruise local and national operations.
He told Mainebiz that he and Zach Poole are currently the company's only full-time employees in Maine, with eight part-time employees on the bench as drivers and guides.
"I am currently trying to have more of our former staff agree to return in some form for us to execute our plans this year," he said.
During the pandemic when Maine Brew Bus couldn't give tours by bus, it began offering a variety of open-air experiences and is currently conducting walking tours through Portland's Old Port.
Seasonal bicycle and boat tours and experiences focused on Maine’s craft alcohol industry are set to begin in May, with bus-based tours for private parties scheduled to resume this summer.
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