The United States’ best beer labels
Colin Joliat When it comes to sales, packaging goes a long ways. Like I admitted in the Grateful Dead wine article, I’ve been known to pick out a bottle purely based on the label. While I’ve never done that with beer, it can certainly play a role in people’s choices.
Stores around the country are becoming more and more crowded with craft beers, so breweries are having to get creative to help themselves stand out. There is a large population of beer lovers who discover new brews purely by walking in and grabbing a six-pack of something they’ve never heard of, and it’s this demographic that is most swayed by the labeling put on a bottle. I’d be willing to bet Crabtree Brewery has done well with that group recently.
Even for the knowledgeable consumer the label can play a major role. Those who grew up in the age of CDs can probably remember many of their favorite album covers. No one bought Nirvana’s Nevermind because it had a naked baby swimming on the cover. OK, maybe a few people did but hopefully they are in jail. The point is that you remember that cover. When it comes to beer, many labels are just as memorable, and when you spot them it can instantly remind you of another time, hopefully a good one, in which you had that beer. It also helps draw your eyes to a particular product on a crowded shelf before you get the time to browse around and change your mind.
The fine folks over at Aleheads have put together a list the top 100 beer labels. They range from simple and classic to outrageous to NSFW but somehow SFShelves. Here are a few of my favorites out of the collection.
Be sure check out the full list over on Aleheads. Are there any labels that really stand out in your mind? And if you say the Coors Light double blue line cold indicator, we might need to have a talk.
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