Thousands of Americans try craft brewing their own beers each year, and some of them find their homemade brews so delicious they want to bottle and sell them to local taverns and other retailers. A craft brewery can become a wonderful side gig for some or transform into a new full-blown business for others. If you’re interested in trying to create your own craft beer, you should know what to expect if you develop a brew you want to commercialize.
Labeling Your Craft Beer
If you want people to buy your craft beer, develop an eye-catching label that not only provides consumers with all the product information required for your beer, such as alcohol content by volume and dietary restriction warnings, but also an attractive and unique design that sets your craft beer apart. Decide whether to bottle your beer or can it, and then choose an appropriate labeling format. Here are some things to consider when thinking about craft beer labels.
Cut-and-stack labels are the most common and the most versatile. While this option provides lots of room for creativity in terms of paper and film choice and neck and body wrapper sizes, it does require a large upfront investment in the specialized machinery required to apply the labels.
Pressure sensitive labels are essentially stickers, available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This is a great entry-level option for new craft beer brewers that allows them to quickly and easily apply labels to their bottles. However, they sometimes wrinkle and bubble and generally require very smooth bottle surfaces. Pressure sensitive labels also require specialized machinery.
Shrink sleeve labels have a higher price point than other labeling varieties, but they can offer stellar results that look great. This is also the only suitable option for labeling aluminum cans. Craft brewers who want 360-degree branding on their beverage containers may want to consider shrink sleeve labeling.
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If you plan to commercialize your new craft beer, consider your labeling options carefully and find something that fits your budget as well as your vision for your new beer line.
Additional Considerations for Your Craft Beer
When you consider your options for labeling your new craft beer, you need to think about more than just the style and type of label you want. It’s also vital to consider how your ideal graphics will look on different labeling substrates, the environmental impact of your labeling process, where you will be shipping and selling your craft beer, and the overall cost of labeling.
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Century Label has extensive experience providing professional labeling services for all types of products, including craft beers. If you are stuck when it comes to deciding on a labeling system for your new craft beer, contact Century Label for more information about the different types of labels we offer and find out how our team can help.
