Pronounced 'halapa,' Jalapa is the capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality, officially spelled Xalapa, which reflects the original archaic pronunciation of the word. Residents of Xalapa are called Xalapenos or Jalapenos, also the name given to the popular peppers cultivated in the area.Taken From Research Notes
The Story
We grabbed a table and sat down. I was hungry. Tito Santeria (in Beacon, NY) was a long-time fave. They do something extraordinary called a strawberry chipotle pork burrito. They do a decent salsa too, but today it seemed second best. A few hours earlier I’d tasted a salsa made by two other guys at the table, Tommy Byrnes and Joel Nearing. I’ve never had a better salsa before or since.
“We roast the jalapeños. We make it fresh. It has to be fresh. The design, the name, just as fresh. And it has to represent Austin and Brooklyn,” said Tommy.
The project had been underway for a few weeks already. The founder of Volum8 Charlie Graham and I had seemingly looked under every spicy rock to learn all we could about salsa brands and hot peppers. My files were filled with notes on Aztec lore and Congress Avenue Bridge bats (bats, man, I hate the fluttering lil hell spawns). We were close to a name for the product, not even that far off from a logo. But for me it wasn’t until today, meeting Tommy and Joel at Tito’s, when the project began to synthesize. Their passion was fire. It was evident these guys were gonna rock the hell out of this.
Not too many years after the project, I was walking through a Whole Foods in South Carolina. I turned and saw a shelf stacked with Jalapa Jars. The bastards had done it. They’d done good. That was all them.
What was done
My first task was to name the brand, design the logo, and specify the brand guidelines. Following this, I designed an e-commerce website. I also designed the first product labels for the salsa jars, featuring both Brooklyn and Austin blends.