The craft beer market is absolutely exploding, with over 22,000,000 barrels of sparkling liquid amber being produced in the U.S. (in 2014), the craft beer market is, without a doubt, a lucrative venture.

If you are considering starting up your very own craft beer product, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the enormous amount of preparation and planning that is required in launching a craft beer business – never mind having your beer make it onto supermarket shelves. With over 4,000 breweries now registered in the U.S, the craft beer market is also highly competitive.

Branding, packaging, labelling, and pricing are all important considerations when starting up a craft beer operation. And that’s only after creating a uniquely refreshing, tasty beer that can be enjoyed by the most discriminatory of beer lovers.

However, the one thing that’s really going to make your craft beer stand out in the supermarket shelves, is good labelling.

Why Labelling?

When your craft beer hits store shelves, it’s not alone. There’s hundreds, if not thousands of other beer companies competing for the customers’ attention, all trying to get noticed.

Get it wrong, and your beer won’t even make it into the hands of a potential beer lovers hands. The label is the first thing a consumer is going to notice, so make sure you make a good first impression.

Your label really needs to convey to a potential consumer that your beer is the only one they should choose. Not an easy task, considering the various colours, fonts, and style decisions that can be made.

But it doesn’t end there. Labels need to comply with local labelling laws. Ignore this point, and you run the risk of your beer being rejected by the local authorities.

Legalities of Craft Beer Bottle Labelling

So, there are obviously countless options in terms of branding choices for your beer label. However, the legal requirements need to be consistent from beer to beer.

Your craft beer must state the following information:

Beer style (e.g. “Amber Ale”)

Volume (in pints/ml)

Alcohol percentage (e.g. 5.2% alcohol per volume)

Brand name

This information is not so much a branding decision, but rather a legal requirement.

This information needs to be very specific. Accuracy is key. For example, the alcohol volume needs to be expressed within 0.1%.

Craft Beer Label Design: Getting it right (Infographic)

Below, we’ve provided and easy-to-follow guide on how to get your beer label design right. It comes from the guys over at FastLabels – a UK-based printing company – and hopefully, it should make the task far less daunting.

It goes into tremendous detail not only about the design side of things, but also legal requirements. It even talks about the best label material to use, with research backed up by a University-led study.

Here it is: