Way Ahead Brews was founded by Ove Haxthausen on a simple bet: non-alcoholic beer didn't have to taste like a compromise. To build the brand, he reached back 700 years to his own family crest — one crown, one set of wings, worn differently by every beer in the lineup.
The Approach
The family crest was modernized to connect with a new audience, reflect a new proposition, and embed beer cues like the hops instead of the family's “wagon gates” for the Way Ahead Brews parent logo. The crest became the system: every beer earns its own coat of arms. For Hazy and White, that meant going deeper than decoration — each crest had to tell a true story about where that beer's style comes from.
Hazy draws its symbol from New England, birthplace of the hazy session IPA. The stars nod to the American flag's own New England origins; the can's blue references the 1987 America's Cup challenger Stars & Stripes, a color long associated with the region's sailing waters.
White traces its style to Leuven, Belgium, home of the classic Belgian witbier. Its crest borrows the white stripes on red straight from the city's own coat of arms — heraldry answering to heraldry.
The result: two crests that look like they've always belonged in the Haxthausen family line, even though they were designed to hold a can.