Updated with quotes from Ryan Berkis Marketing Director Pagoda City Brewing (fka Chatty Monks Brewing)
As they say a New Year means new changes. And that seems to be the case as Chatty Monks Brewing (Reading, PA) is rebranding many parts of their business to Pagoda Brewing Company.
The brewery first teased the change in early December with the following post over social media.
And as of today, “Pagoda Brewing” launches as a rebrand from Chatty Monks Brewing.
We recently spoke with Ryan Berkis, Marketing Director of Pagoda City Brewing to understand more of the change. As Berkis shared the idea of a rebrand had always been thought of ever since the Chatty Monks brand was sold to new owners back in June of 2021. However, conversations didn’t really start to heat up until early 2023. By the middle of the year the name “Pagoda City Brewing” had been finalized with the goal of announcing the new brand at the start of 2024.
While Pagoda City Brewing will be the new brand of Chatty Monks beer, it won’t take over all Chatty Monks identity just yet. Berkis confirmed that their Pub and Market Fairgrounds locations will remain under the Chatty Monks name with them serving Pagoda City beer. As of this writing no decision has been made on when the two locations will completely rebrand. For the foreseeable future they will remain Chatty Monks. The primary brewery and taproom will, however, be rebranded under the new name. And 100% of beer produced by the brand will be labeled as Pagoda City Brewing beer.
What sparked the change? As Berkis said “we have goals and a vision for this specific brand. We want to write our own message and to align with our goals for the brewery, restaurant and all other things involved.”
When asking about why the name Pagoda City, Berkis confirmed that the brewery was looking for something that always brought people back to Reading, PA. For those not familiar the Pagoda is a novelty building that overlooks the city of Reading. “With being one of just two beer producers in the city limits, we wanted a brand that would allow us to work towards more community involvement and a name that would bring people back to Reading, PA no matter how big we get” Berkis shared.
The rebrand is not a simple change in name/ identity, but will allow Pagoda City Brewing to focus towards the future. “We had some partnerships we were holding back on knowing the rebrand was coming. There is a lot more coming from us in 2024 now that the new identity has been announced” Berkis confirmed.
To continue to see how the brand evolves, be sure to follow the brewery on Facebook and Instagram for official updates.
