Labeling Innovations from Weber

As a typical brewery, you are constantly on the lookout for innovative ways to make your products stand out, whether it's in a retail setting or sold from a tap room cooler. A captivating label that distinguishes you from the competition is key to attracting attention and expanding your customer base. Let's face it, more often than not, a consumer's choice is influenced by the label itself.

While there are many ways to create impressive looking labels, like using metallic papers and exotic label materials, they tend to be expensive. And breweries are always looking to keep their label price at the magic <$0.10/label threshold. Right?

Weber Packaging recently started helping breweries use a simple, economical process to make their labels stand out. It might even get your customers to play with your label and show others.

It’s called Cast & Cure. It’s a cost-effective in-line process that creates a shiny reflective area on your label using UV coating and a specialty film. And it doesn’t really add much to your basic label cost.

Our Digital Label Presses were really busy again this year cranking out some amazing-looking craft beer labels for our customers. I took a walk back to the Digital Press Room and gathered up 10 cool labels to share with all of you.  Weber has some amazing customers that trust us to take their incredible artwork and turn it into labels that will showcase their brand.

It is really interesting to see what different breweries around the country think about both naming their beers and creating artwork for them. I am continuously amazed at the thought process and creativity often overlooked when enjoying one of these beverages. I view labels as a look into the soul of a brewery and a reflection of who they are and what they are like (Humorous? Serious? Artistic?)

We are now also printing lots of labels for craft soda, ciders, cold press beverages and even kombucha. And, wow, these are some great looking labels!

So here is a sample of some cool labels from a couple of my favorite crafters in 2022. Enjoy!

1. Benny Brewing Company - Wilkes-Barre, PA

This one caught my eye right away. White Sangria IPA? And then the recreation of a Capri-Sun-like label looks amazing! Check out the "attached straw"! Benny Brewing has an incredible artist creating all their labels and each one is truly something to look at. Plus the puns never hurt, right?

Ben Schonfeld opened the Benny Brewing Company on June 10th, 2010. His nano-brewery is brewing on a 30 gallon SABCO system and supplies many local establishments with his 4 core brands and a wide variety of seasonals. A WIDE variety. His beers are inspired by a variety of ingredients, social and cultural trends along with fun food pairings.

All of Benny's labels are colorful masterpieces of art, using bright colors and special effects to catch the customer's eye. They might be a small local brewery, but their products would be well-received by a larger audience.

His labels are printed on white BOPP film with a gloss laminate to enhance the color and protect the label from moisture and abrasion.

And Again This Year - 2. and 3. and 4.

Benny Brewing Company - Wilkes-Barre, PA

I told you all their labels are cool. Check these out.

I know my scans don't do them justice but our HP digital label presses sure do! All of these labels are bright illustrations that jump out at you. Our hats off to the designer who does these for Benny Brewing. Each of them makes me want to grab a six-pack of each just to see what they taste like.

I'm sure we will be seeing more great labels and craft beer flavors from this small but mighty brewery in the near future. Stay tuned!

Once again I ventured back to visit our busy Digital Label Presses and did my year-end survey of all the cool labels that we printed in 2021. Weber has some amazing customers that trust us to take their incredible artwork and turn it into labels that will showcase their brand.

Digging through the sample rack of labels siting in the corner, I found that we had printed a lot of beautiful craft beer labels! But I also noticed that there was a wide range of other craft beverages mixed in with all these beer labels. 

We are now printing lots of labels for craft soda, ciders, cold press beverages and even kombucha. And, wow, these are some great looking labels!

So this year I am mixing it up a bit and including other craft beverages so you can see craft beer isn't the only well dressed refreshment on the block. Enjoy!

And I hope you all got through 2021 safely and remain in good health. We sincerely care about all our customers and friends who read our blogs. 

1. Benny Brewing Company - Wilkes-Barre, PA

Ben Schonfeld became enamored with craft beer after stopping at a brew pub when they finished a round of golf in Myrtle Beach years ago. He developed an appreciation for the time, thought and imagination it takes to brew a great craft beer.

After few years of developing recipes, testing ingredients and learning procedures on his 10 gallon brewing system, Ben opened the Benny Brewing Company on June 10th, 2010. His nano-brewery is brewing on a 30 gallon SABCO system and supplies many local establishments with his 4 core brands and a wide variety of seasonals. 

His beers are inspired by a variety of ingredients, social and cultural trends along with fun food pairings. We especially liked this colorful label for his Heyna or Gose Tart Ale. It's described as a sour ale brewed with raspberries, lime, coriander and salt. Sounds awesome!

All of Benny's labels are colorful masterpieces of art, using bright colors and special effects to catch the customer's eye. They might be a small local brewery, but their products would be well-received by a larger audience.

His labels are printed on white BOPP film with a gloss laminate to enhance the color and protect the label from moisture and abrasion.

One of the coolest things about our Digital Label Department is our sample rack of labels siting in the corner. Nothing fancy. It just holds the end rolls of some of the amazing label runs that Weber prints every day.

I love to wander back to that department to check out the latest craft beer labels on that rack. Every brewery has adopted a style of artwork for their brand, and most of it is so interesting, I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.

2020, as a year, was pretty bad. I hope you all got through it safely and remain in good health. These labels are one of the true bright spots. Enjoy!

1. New River Brewing - West Jefferson, NC

Founded in 2016 by father Greg Hershner (a family doctor) and his son, Adam (an industrial engineer), New River Brewing started small but with a big goal: disrupt the local craft beer market by creating innovative beverages in Ashe County North Carolina.

Veteran home brewers turned pro, these two began slowly until 2018 when Adam won a NC Brewer's Cup Medal. That was a turning point for the brewers and they opened their current Taproom and Brewery in 2019. They are committed to bringing the best craft beers and pub food to their community.

One thing common to most taprooms is the ability to bring home some fresh-brewed goodness via a crowler or growler. Many breweries use plain labels and just write the name and date on it with a Sharpie marker.

New River knew they had an opportunity to showcase their brand with a great-looking label on their crowlers. The label material is our Digiflex Silver with a matte over laminate, giving it a reflective quality with a subdued reflection. 

2. 903 Brewers - Sherman, TX

Deeply rooted in originality, high quality, and community, 903 Brewers prides itself on solely offering its best to its customers.

Their labels are in-your-face designs that get noticed right away. Bold colors and striking colors are their trademark. The 903 IPA is a fruity treat with notes of grapefruit, pear, stone fruit and mild spice. They say it pairs well with hot wings, curry and tom foolery.

Acting on their dream of sharing their love of creating great beer with folks who mean the most, 903 Brewers is the product of the perfectionism and persistence of founders Jeremy (also head brew boss) and Natalie Roberts.

Their award-winning beers include the Sasquatch Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout which took home the silver in the 2015 Great American Beer Festival aged beer category.  Their Scotch Ale, Kilt Switch, took home a bronze in 2018.Cultivating its craft since 2013, 903 beer is noticeably crafted with impeccable care. 903 Brewers first made a name for itself with the beloved The Chosen One Coconut Ale and Roo’s Red Ale. Now, with an array of year-round, seasonal, and special release beers, craft beer enthusiasts are sure to find their flavor.

This label is a Flexlyte white BOPP film with a clear gloss over laminate for protection.

3. Le Chien Brewing - Denham Springs, LA

The Le Chien Brewing Company started out in 2016 and is a micro brewery in the antique downtown district of Denham Springs, Louisiana. They feature great handcrafted craft beers and sodas, along with custom food and live music. 

And, as you can see from this crowler label, they are completely dog friendly! Check out their Facebook page for some great dog pics for visitors to their taproom and patio. The brewery is built in an old oil change shop. The pit that was used to get under the cars to change the oil was converted into a home for their fermenters and tanks. You can actually see them through grates on the floor!

The label we made for Le Chien is for their 32 oz. crowlers. Beautifully designed, with simple graphics and great colors, the label has areas for writing in the beer information contained in the crowler. The label used our Digiflex white BOPP film with a matte over laminate for a low sheen writable surface.

4. Tantrick Brewing - Allegan, MI

Tantrick Brewing is named after the two owners, Tanya and Patrick who opened their taps in 2018. They are dedicated to using the freshest ingredients to deliver outstanding beer to their customers around Allegan, Michigan. They recently started canning and found Weber as an alternative to hand labeling cans from sheets. 

Their beer menu ranges from IPA's to Stouts, Irish Reds and even into a couple of refreshing ciders. And their labels are just beautiful! The design really stands out with it's trippy colors and mesmerizing patterns (see more info below). We printed these labels (above) on Digiflex white BOPP film with a matte over laminate. They are easy to spot on the shelf and a true pleasure to enjoy.

The Covid pandemic has upended most breweries around the country this past year, as so it did to Tantrick.  They have a Mug Club and all mug club members get their own handmade glass mug, which are made by Avolio Glass Werks in Kalamazoo. 

Earlier in 2020, local Covid regulations prohibited gathering indoors, but the move to outdoor seating was causing a lot of mugs to be damaged.  So they decided to suspend the service, and give mug club members an option of buying 16 oz cans instead.  They changed the art on their labels to reflect the unique designs of each mug. Most of the new label designs are a theme off of their Mug Club mugs. And the wood grain band across the top of the label reflects the scorched wood bar surface in the taproom. It is their way of bringing the best of the Tantrick Mug Club to their members and other customers while creating amazing label designs!

Currently, mug club members are also given a complimentary koozie to hold their prized beverages.

5. Mountain Fork Brewery - Broken Bow, OK

Established in 2015, Mountain Fork Brewery is located in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma. The water for their beer comes from the pristine Mountain Fork River. They believe that from a good source, comes a good beer. And their goal is to produce easy drinking, creatively crafted beer with you in mind.

Mountain Fork is located in a shopping center that also includes a coffee & ice cream shop, a winery and a distillery! Demand for their brews have increases so much over the years that they have increased their capacity with a 20 barrel system. With a winery, distillery and brewery located so close, they have the adult beverage market covered.

And it makes it easy to get access to used bourbon barrels from their neighbor at Hochatown Distilling next door. The whiskey goes out one day and it's filled with beer the next! The above label is an example of their Stout aged in whiskey barrels. It has an 11% alcohol by volume from aging it for 6 months. 

This label was made with our Flexlyte clear film with a white underpainting and a clear gloss over laminate for protection. This is a beautiful label with outstanding colors that reflect the lake area of their location.

Back in 1926, when the automobile was starting to become commonplace in the United States, there was a problem. Cars like the Ford Model T and the Dodge Series 116 were going faster and farther, but the roads they traveled were mostly still unconnected dirt ribbons.

Two entrepreneurs, Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri, decided they wanted to try to connect the country with a paved road to enhance auto travel. They lobbied the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) for the creation of a route across the country near the center. What eventually evolved over the years was Route 66, which connected Chicago in the East to Santa Monica in the West.  The road grew by connecting smaller local roads into one unified paved US Highway. It opened up the country to commerce and travelers, especially helping the migration to the West during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930’s.

While many changes occurred over the century, including the endpoints, Route 66 has remained a special magical highway romanticizing auto travel in the 40’s-60’s.

The scenic by-ways, small town diners, museums and tourist attractions still bring travelers looking to relive those special times when traveling by car was more than just speeding down a crowded concrete multi-lane raceway. When you mention Route 66 to those that know, it conjures up images of large un-air-conditioned beasts full of families traveling down long stretches of two-lane asphalt.

Larry Tarantolo was lucky enough to grow up in Cicero, IL, right along where Route 66 (Ogden Rd.) passed by on its way to the endpoint at Lake Michigan. He was enamored with the legend of that highway, often traveling it with his family. He learned the history and lived the magic of the famed first road across America.

As a beverage marketing entrepreneur, Larry worked in the industry for years, creating multiple products and working with many experts in the bottling and distribution arena. One of the professionals that Larry befriended was Ron Filbert, a fourth-generation bottler of custom root beers and sodas. Filbert’s Old Time Root Beer is a well-kept Chicago secret that is a hard-to-find Southside treasure. Ron’s plant is located in a brick building on South Ashland in Chicago and it turns out custom hand-made sodas daily. The equipment is old but well-maintained, as you would expect from a seasoned craftsman.

About twenty-five years ago, Larry met Ron and they have developed a great working relationship over the years. And one of the special things tying Larry to Ron’s company is that Filberts and Route 66 were both opened in 1926.

The Craft Brewers Conference was cancelled for 2020, but we want to show you what Weber was planning to demonstrate in their booth. 

Every year we look forward to the craft brewing innovations, camaraderie and outstanding good time at the Craft Brewers Conference. Unfortunately, this year the show was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope everyone was able to stay home and practice smart social behaviors that allowed everyone to stay healthy in this difficult environment.

But we really wanted to show you some of the things we had planned for our new booth at the CBC show. So Neal Oechsle, our Labeling Products Manager, would like to show you a few things that can improve your craft beer labeling.

Weber can help you improve your craft beer brand by helping you get high-quality labels and economic prices. Craft beer labels need to look unique, setting you apart from the crowd in the busy beverage aisle. And the labels need to be durable, water-resistant and smudge-proof. Weber can print your labels on their digital presses, so small label runs are very economical. We can use a variety of label stocks for special effects and can add foil and embossing to really make your label come alive. 

And our e-commerce site, Go-Label.com, is now offering a selection of custom digitally printed craft beer labels for your brand. We can take your artwork and print beautiful labels on a variety of label materials and protective coatings. These labels come in convenient rolls of 500 labels on 3" cores (also available in larger sizes - call for details).

Our custom-printed labels are perfect for limited runs and special times when you need between 500-5000 labels for your latest project. While Go-Label can supply much larger quantities if needed, that should be handled by one of our labeling experts available at 1.800.843.4242.

For more information on the PL-501, check out our web site.