Taxman Brewing Co.’s redesigned cans are kicking off the Bargersville brewery’s 10th anniversary year. The brewery will feature other special releases and events during the year, including an expanded version of its annual Death & Taxes Day in April.
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A 10-year birthday is the perfect occasion to get all dressed up.
As Taxman Brewing Co. approaches the landmark anniversary this year, the Bargersville-based brewery is giving its line of Belgian-inspired beers a fresh new look.
The colors among its more than 50 varieties of canned beer are brighter. The wording is bolder and more eye-catching. Yet beer-lovers will recognize Taxman’s iconic skull-themed logo at the heart of its brand.
“Taxman has been a labor of love. Our dream of opening a Belgian-style brewery in Bargersville seemed lofty 10 years ago, but the support of the Indiana craft beer community has allowed the Taxman brand to thrive,” said co-founder Nathan Huelsebusch. “Our refreshed look signifies our commitment to continued innovation, growth and quality.”
The can redesign is just the start of a special year for Taxman. Since opening in downtown Bargersville in 2014, the brewery has expanded its beer distribution around Indiana and beyond, hosted a massive beer festival drawing hundreds of people to Johnson County, and opened locations in Fortville and downtown Indianapolis.
Plans are coming together for more unique events and opportunities, including the largest iteration yet of its Death and Taxes Day in April.
For the Taxman family, celebrating 10 years in business with the community and its supporters is a special opportunity.
“It’s really wonderful. We laugh — when we first started the discussion of opening a Belgian-style brewery in Bargersville, Indiana, everyone was like, ‘You’re doing what? That’s not going to work.’ It was lofty, but it was a true passion for the style of beer and the town and the community that allowed it to happen,” co-owner Leah Huelsebusch said.
Taxman Brewing was born after the Huelsebusches returned from a two-year stint in Belgium. Nathan Huelsebusch had worked in the country as an international tax director for Cummins. During their time in Belgium, one of their favorite hobbies was bicycling around to the small-town breweries dotting the countryside.
That experience proved to be the inspiration for Taxman Brewing. With Nathan Huelsebusch’s experience, they named many of their beer projects after accounting or financial terminology: Deduction dubbel, Exemption tripel, Gold Standard blonde ale, Tax Holiday dark strong ale.
When they started, all of their beers were on tap, Leah Huelsebusch said. They didn’t yet have the canning operation going, and when they did, it was just a few limited core beers.
“We’ve certainly grown our seasonal offerings significantly since we began,” Leah Huelsebusch said. We started with a pretty good lineup idea and visual brands planned, but as we’ve grown and added so many different styles and multiples, you start to realize you’re running out of ideas to differentiate.”
The updated can design is intended to modernize the label design while preserving Taxman’s iconic aesthetic. The new design incorporates bolder colors, higher contrast images and provides stronger visual differentiation between brands to ensure that Taxman beer looks better and more dynamic on store shelves.
“Our growth inspired the need to refresh in general, and just tighten up some of the imagery, to make things stand out when you’re looking at the shelves,” Leah Huelsebusch said. “It’s 2024, and times have changed. We weren’t on the grocery shelves when we launched the brand, and the evolution of the brand gives us the opportunity to do something new.”
While the can refresh is the most immediately visible recognition of its 10-year anniversary, Taxman has also planned a special slate of new seasonal, premium seasonal and vault beers coming out at the brewery each month.
The brewery is also looking into exclusive collaborations and limited-edition sour releases at Taxman pubs.
Most importantly, the Death & Taxes Day celebration in April will be extra special.
More is coming, though final decisions are still being made on what the anniversary year will look like.
“We have to figure that out. We haven’t decided exactly how we want to ring in Year 10, but we still have a couple months to be able to decide that,” Leah Huelsebusch said. “We need to think that through, and determine how to best recognize the growth, the town, the community.”
