Label Removal Day - a Question

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SkiSoloII

Splitting the beer atom since 1996
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Removing labels today from a couple of cases of bottles. Does anyone make their final decisons on which beers they buy based upon how hard it is to remove the labels? I may not buy Red Hook or Bells any more... :mad:

Dave
 
Removing labels today from a couple of cases of bottles. Does anyone make their final decisons on which beers they buy based upon how hard it is to remove the labels? I may not buy Red Hook or Bells any more... :mad:

Dave

The hottest water your tap will pour + a heavy dose of oxy clean.... let 'em soak overnight.... done deal. The stubborn ones that won't go (there aren't many) go in the trash... my times worth more than that.

PS) With the above method....Bells are cake.
 
Yup, if I can't remove the label, I'm not interested in buying the beer. Sometimes that stupid glue is too much of a pain. I totally agree that my time is worth more than that, plus the frustration factor!! I'll probably miss out on some good beer because of that attitude, but there are many others out there.

Hmmm, just a few years ago I would not have been able to blow it off that easily by saying, "there are many others out there." Niiiiiccce!
 
Michelob Pale Ale is a easy bottle, but its a whole lot quicker to Keg and not really that expensive to get started.
 
To be honest, I quit de-labeling. Most of my beer in bottles never leaves my apartment. I only de-label a few bottles now for giving away and competitions.

I used to de-label and re-label with my own labels for every batch. That was just a huge waste of time. If you give away a lot of bottles, I guess its worth it.
 
.....but to turn the channel back to those of us who don't want to keg, it's definite that all labels are not created equal when it comes to removal. It's perplexing that the few Euro bottles I've delabeled (Franziskaner, Paulaner, etc.) practically fell off. American brewers evidently want those labels on there, even in the landfill. Red Hook can be easy or difficult. Sam Adams - not too bad, but they gotta put 3 labels on some bottles, which offsets the easy. Best U.S. bottle = Schlafly, unfortunately contains mediocre beer. I try to avoid Celis and Saranac at all costs, they're so difficult. Generally, if I get some of those, I just recycle them.
 
My favorite bottles for give aways would be Guinness. I like the curvy shaped bottles. The plastic labels come off easily after slicing with a sharp knife & you can pull out the widget with a pair of needle nose pliers.

To answer your question, yes, I have purchased beer based on the ability to remove the labels. I have also purchased craft beer in 22's based on cool painted on labels.
 
I don't know if you can get Lakefront Brewery beer out there in MI, but it is one of the easiest labels I've taken off. 2 strips of light glue on the label, the center is unglued, wipes clean. Great beer as well. The biggest pain I think is Great Lakes Brewery, which is just caked with glue. Best of luck.
 
So far for the hardest for me to remove have been Short's and North Peak. All others have been rather simple and a soak in water gets the labels off with little work.
 
I think Great Divide Brewery uses JB weld to affix their labels. I had to scrub through what appeared at first to be a paper label. I like having another bottle after doing research on what else to brew but if a bottle is painted or the label is stubborn I have too many other bottles and friends willing to give me empties to mess with it.
 
UGH, I refuse to even attempt delabeling any Shorts bottles. Good stuff inside, but the bottles go back to the store for my deposit once they are emptied.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/389/50399

This is a GREAT bottle. Sorry to say I've not tried the contents. The bottle has a real nice feel to it, and the label practically falls off. I'll be stopping at the store on the way home from tonight to see if I can score a few more.
 
Samuel Smith is very easy to de-label, and I like the bottle shapes. Beers a little pricey but I like the Oatmeal Stout. But to save money I buy mostly Kirkland beer from cosco, good beer and I don"t care if I get the labels all the way off.
 
I love my local brewery, but they have these like photo labels. They are the biggest pain in the a$$ to remove. Even soaking in oxiclean for a week they are still almost impossible to remove.

Great beer, but bottles usually end up in the trash which sucks cause they are great 22 oz bombers.

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Oxyclean free solution 1 day takes care of all of the labels I've threw at it, only a few Bells but two hearted slid off with ease.
 
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