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- By Native News Online Staff
Blue Lake, Calif. — Mad River Brewing Company has rebranded with a new look that honors the craft beverage maker’s deep roots in Humboldt County, while clearly identifying it as a distinctly Yurok Tribe-owned entity.
The emblem features four natural components, including a traditional Yurok design known as sturgeon back, the Coast Range, healthy redwood forests and the jumping steelhead, which has been synonymous with MRB’s flagship Steelhead Extra Pale Ale for two decades.
“The new, Mad River Brewing Company logo pays homage to the business’s legacy as a consummate innovator in the craft beer industry and highlights the Yurok Tribe’s unyielding commitment to environmentally sustainable commerce,” said Linda Cooley, a Yurok tribal member who serves as MRB’s Chief Operating Officer.
The logo was created by digital artist Jessica Carenco, who worked with MRB to develop artwork that is distinctly Yurok and recognizes the company’s strong reputation as an environmentally conscious producer of finest quality ales.
“Jessica did a fantastic job in simultaneously capturing Mad River Brewery’s original ethos and our imperative to integrate the Yurok lifeway into everything we do,” Cooley said. “I am proud to say that environmental sustainability is a compulsory component in all of our economic endeavors.”
The sturgeon back design will feature prominently on Mad River Brewing Company’s line of fine ales, tap handles and ancillary merchandise.
The Yurok Tribe acquired the Mad River Brewing Company in October of 2019, making it one of only a handful of tribally owned breweries in the United States. The company operates a state-of-the-art brewery and Mad River Brewing Tap Room, a family friendly restaurant offering a tantalizing food menu and a wide variety of MRB standards and specialty brews.
Both businesses are in Blue Lake, Calif., located within the ancestral territory of the Wiyot people. In February of this year, the company purchased Wild Goose canning equipment in anticipation of entering into new markets with an expanded line of products.
The addition of the well-established maker of craft ales to Tribe’s commercial portfolio is one component of a farsighted economic development plan. The Tribe is currently seeking new business opportunities both on and off the reservation.
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