Commercial beer bottle label removal difficulty

[nukebrewer]

This is nothing more than a collection of commercial breweries and a description of how easy or hard their labels are to remove for the purposes of reusing for homebrew. I am merely starting the the list, so I hope others chime in with their label removal experiences. I'll try to keep the first post updated based on replies to this thread. BTW, the difficulties are all based on soaking in warm OxyClean solution for approximately 30 minutes. Here is what I have so far:

Difficulty Legend:
1: Falls off the bottle, little to no adhesive residue
2: Extremely easy, very light rubbing required for excess adhesive
3: Pretty easy, scrub pad needed for excess adhesive
4: Requires extended soaking (updated difficulty after extended soak in parentheses)
5: No loosening of the adhesive at all

Samuel Adams - 3
Sierra Nevada - 1
Harpoon - 3
Brooklyn - 4 (3)
Lagunitas - 1
Founders - 1
Belhaven - 5
Laughing Dog - 1
Weyerbacher - 1
Magic Hat - 3
New Belgium - 2.5
Summitt - 4
Great Divide - 4 or 5
Back Forty - 5
Marble Brewing - 5
Bells - 1
Shorts - 5
Dogfish Head - 0.5
Troegs - 4.5
Newcastle - 1
Tommyknocker - 5
Odell's - 2
Amstel - 5
Michelob - 2
Goose Island - 1
Kirkland Signature - 2
New Glarus - 1
Mendocino - 3.5
North Coast - 1.5
Abita - 1
Victory - 0.5
Fegley's - 5
Southern Tier Bombers - 5
Southern Tier 12 oz - 4
Otter Creek - 2
Long Trail - 2
Clown Shoes - 1.5
Fat Tire - 1
Lazy Magnolia - 4
Breckenridge - 4

Thanks to everyone who has provided additional beers so far. As was mentioned by microbusbrewery and 69Bronc have pointed out, the difficulty can vary from batch to batch if the brewery in question changes adhesive or some other factor. The difficulties indicated are based on the experience of the brewer providing the input. YMMV.

-AJ

 

[microbusbrewery]

Good info especially for people looking to collect bottles. I have a lot of bottles from Epic Brewing here in Utah (everything comes in bombers). Using your scale, some 2's and some are 5's...not sure why there'd be such a difference from the same brewery. I'm sure it's been mentioned but that Goof Off stuff works well on adhesive.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'd put Sam Adams and New Belgium both at 2.5 on your list.

I'd put Summitt bottles at a 4

 

[pentachris]

Great Divide - 4 or 5
Back Forty - 5

 

[Devin]

I really think that it depends on the batch from the brewery or something. I have had some bottles from Odell's that just had the labels fall off. Then, I have had some that would rate a 4 on your list. I also don't have the same experience with you concerning Sierra Nevada. The label comes off easy enough, but I always have to scrub the bottle to get the remaining residue off.

That said, I will add another one to avoid:

Marble Brewing - 5. These guys make great beer, but removing their labels is a major pain.

 

[davekippen]

Bells - 1
Shorts - 5

 

[microbusbrewery]

Oh and sometimes Dogfish Head falls off just sitting in my beer fridge, so I'd give them a 0.5

 

[nukebrewer]

Nice. I haven't had Dogfish Head in so long. I might pick up some this weekend. The 60 min IPA was my very first ever craft beer.

 

[chickypad]

I do PBW for 1 hr and so far everything I've tried is a 1 or a 2 : Sierra, New Belgium, Bear Republic, Ballast Point, Green flash, Port brewing, Russian River, Widmer, Mad River, Ninkasi, Grand Teton - I think there's others but those I know for sure. I thought Oxyclean and PBW were equivalent but maybe not?

 

[gandalfiii]

Troegs 4.5
I find that the potato peeler works pretty well for taking Troegs labels off after a long soak but still requires some elbow grease.

 

[chessking]

Newcastle 1

 

[Sudstud]

Tommyknocker 5

 

[cockybitz]

Odell's 2
Amstel Light 5
Michelob 2
Goose island 1

 

[rtb178]

Dark Horse (MI) 5

 

[pentachris]

Kirkland Signature (eastern U.S., contract brewed by Saranac) - 2

 

[brycelarson]

For the midwest people - New Glarus - 1. Tasty beer and labels that float off - it's a win-win!

 

[grimstuff]

Mendocino Brewing Company - 3.5
North Coast - 1.5

 

[pedimac]

Abita - 1 or less

 

[BrewThruYou]

Victory - 0.5
Dark Horse - 5
Fegley's - 5 (you need to peel off the sticker, then use goo-gone)
Southern Tier Bombers - 5 (you need to peel off the sticker, then use goo-gone)
Southern Tier 12oz - 4 (needs extended soaking and you need your nail to peel it off)

 

[beertroll]

Otter Creek / Wolavers - 2
Long Trail - 2
Clown Shoes - 1.5? (Plasticky label, requires a little effort to peel off, but it leaves absolutely nothing behind and doesnt' tear)

 

[petie]

Fat tire 1

 

[pentachris]

Tangential comment - I soak bottles for about 30 minutes in OxyClean. If the label isn't reasonably easy to remove at that point (if it takes more than about 20 seconds for the label and glue combined), I generally pitch that bottle. There are so many that are easy, I don't think it's worth my time to struggle with difficult ones.

 

[BrotherGrim]

Lazy Magnolia - 4

They don't get any better after a long soak either. I normally drop my bottles into a cooler filled with oxy clean and water, and clean them off after a day or two of soaking. Most on the list at that point are just a wipe off with a wet rag for residue.

 

[ncbrewer]

It might be helpful to also note if the bottles are twist-off - some come in packaging where you can't see the caps.

 

[trnitz]

I soak my bottles in a 10 gallon Rubbermaid container with 1/2 scoop of Oxyclean overnight.

The next day after removing the bottles from the Rubbermaid container, all the labels are in the bottom.

No scrubbing needed at all.

 

[cockybitz]

Breckenridge 4

 

[Frige]

Carta blanca -5
They use a label that must have aluminum in it. Soaking does not do anything to it at all. You have to scape it off and then soak for a day to get the glue off.

 

[Mumbly]

Noticed you didn't have

Boulevard - 1
Lucky bucket - no amount of soaking will get label off, best to peal off while bottle is sweating.

 

[jwwbrennan]

Alexander Keiths - 4

Soap, water, steel pot scrubber gets 'em all. Capping is a little more difficult as they are twist tops; opening on the other hand is easy.

 

[SocalNat]

Port Brewing Company 1. They slide off with a little soak in water.