What makes a Label Eye Catching?

I have decided I want to jump on the label making train, mainly for beers of mine that I will be giving away to friends. I think having a somewhat legitimate looking label really elevates the beer mentally to those that receive it compared to a plain brown bottle. I want to take a poll and have a discussion on what should be "standard" on a label.

I notice a lot of homebrewers make labels completely different for every beer and there may not be consistency, so is that important, or not? What should be more prominent in your label, the name of your brewery or the name/style of the beer? Is branding important? What should the drinkers eye be drawn to first?

I like the branding thing. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada, for e.g....instantly recognizable, with standardized variation based on the style. Plus, the whole "set" together looks great. I'm not a fan of completely different labels for each beer...looks disjointed to me.

Beer style is a must, IMO. Stats (OG/FG/IBU, etc) are nice, but optional.

For the description, I've found very few people care about the list of ingredients. A description of what to expect when you're drinking (brief tasting notes) are very helpful.

TyTanium said:

I like the branding thing. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada, for e.g....instantly recognizable, with standardized variation based on the style. Plus, the whole "set" together looks great. I'm not a fan of completely different labels for each beer...looks disjointed to me.

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I also like to be able to quickly recognize a beer from a certain brewery. The two breweries you mention are great examples but they each have a twist to it. Sam adams keeps the same outer colors/logo and changes the inside and the ribbon color, if my memory serves me right. Sierra Nevada keeps a very similar theme and layout but changes the basic color of the label to differentiate the style.

brettwasbtd said:

...the same outer colors/logo and changes the inside and the ribbon color.... ...very similar theme and layout but changes the basic color of the label to differentiate the style.

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Bingo - I've emulated that on my labels. Same general template, and we just change the accent color, image and text for each style. Works really well I think.


I really agree that a good label takes your homebrew up a notch. People drink with their eyes more than I would expect.

TyTanium said:

Beer style is a must, IMO. Stats (OG/FG/IBU, etc) are nice, but optional.

For the description, I've found very few people care about the list of ingredients. A description of what to expect when you're drinking (brief tasting notes) are very helpful.

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Beer style def needs to be stated. I also dont feel full ingredient lists necessary . Even as a fellow homebrewer who is into that type of thing I don't want to see a recipe on the bottle, but maybe a defining flavor profile.

It could just be my man crush on Jamil's and his brewing awesomeness, but I really like the short and sweet descriptions he gives to Heretic's Beers Shallow grave might be my favorite.

TyTanium said:

Bingo - I've emulated that on my labels. Same general template, and we just change the accent color, image and text for each style. Works really well I think.


I really agree that a good label takes your homebrew up a notch. People drink with their eyes more than I would expect.

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Part of having a similar template is that it is much easier to create new labels. Part of me has trouble picking one thing and sticking with it thought...grass always looks greener on the other side!

Agree - Jamal's descriptions are great. I like when they're part description, part story, and part imagery. Works really nice to set the tone.

Having a standard template DEFINITELY speeds up label production.

Some of my favorite labels follow a general template/story.

I love Grimm Brothers Brewing labels:

plansit said:

Some of my favorite labels follow a general template/story.

I love Grimm Brothers Brewing labels:

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These are great! I like them as well. They are consistent, but different!

Check out google images (and the beer in general, they simply can't make a bad one and they're all unique) for Lagunitas. Definitely my favorite commercial brewer by far (and being from Michigan, we have some great stuff from Bell's, Founder's, Short's, etc... to compare to). They do a great job of using simplicity with a recognizable template. You can't miss it in the cooler, and you don't get bogged down with too busy a label. Plus they usually write some interesting poetry on it, just easter-egg stuff. Label's can be easy and awesome.