(Courtesy James Squire)

Australia’s James Squire Craft Beer brand is getting a major rebrand with a new campaign that embraces James Squire’s colorful life and a video that looks and plays life a swashbuckling adventure film.

Here’s the deal…

James Squire is a “bigger-than-life beer legend in Australia. He was a convicted British thief way back in the early 19^th century, who was sent to a penal colony in South Wales to pay for his crimes where he eventually became that continent’s first hop grower and Australia’s first, and some argue, finest brewer.

It’s a story that’s made for the movies and Lion who now own the James Squire beer brand (as well as New Belgium Brewing and Bell’s Brewery in the states) have produced a cinematic ode to his life that looks and feels like a Hollywood film.

“Ordinary Be Damned,” the name of the video and the beer brand’s campaign, is like nothing we’ve ever seen in the world of beer advertising. It looks and feel closer to something you might see in a theater or on HBO.

Take a look, this thing is epic…

It was produced by Milk & Honey and features a terrific voiceover by Rory McCann, the Scottish actor best known for portraying Sandor “The Hound” Clegane on the HBO series Game of Thrones.

“Most brands would kill for an origin story like this,” Steve Jackson, co-founder of Milk + Honey United told The Drum. “But as good as it is, we didn’t want to simply tell his story. We wanted to create an enduring platform and attitude that allows James Squire the brand to think and act like James Squire the man; always turning up in culture just as he turned up in life.”

The Lion-owned brewery hopes the new campaign will connect modern-day drinkers with its unique origin story.

“’Ordinary Be Damned’ marks a significant part of revitalizing James Squire with our first masterbrand campaign,” said Malcolm Eadie, portfolio director at Lion. “Squire led a bold and intrepid life full of ingenuity, that was anything but ordinary – a spirit that continues to be relevant for consumers today.”

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Want more from James Squire?

There’s this…

THE JAMES SQUIRE $30,000 BOTTLE OPENER

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(All image credits: James Squire)