|BACKGROUND|

Is a bottle with Sharpie-decorated paper label taped on to the side of a bottle a functional label? Sure, but it lacks zazz.

As a homebrewer, there’s a certain level of pride that comes with making the unsophisticated brown glass bottle look almost professional at times. While some more stalwart members of the fold might feel that the liquid inside should speak for itself, there’s an ever growing sect that like to push the envelope or use other skills they already have at their disposal (shout out to /r/hbl. You guys are dope).

I, for one, welcome the design aspect. Personally, I’ve always described beer as the perfect marriage of three of my favorite things – cooking, science, and art. While the majority of my adventures have a flair for the dramatic, a la Dogfish Head, the artistry isn’t just limited to the liquid. Also, I like using my art degree, since I paid for it and all.

Going to college for art education, I took a wide swath of classes in a myriad of mediums, ranging from jewelry making to photography to ceramics, but I was always a graphic designer at heart. I taught myself Macromedia Flash (R.I.P.) and Adobe Photoshop in my early high school years, and just fell more and more in love with ideas like logo design and typography in college. For me, it was almost a natural progression that I wanted to make labels for every beer that I brewed when I started. That lasted for the first three batches until I got slightly burned out and overwhelmed with life.

Since I’ve started this blog, however, I’ve fallen back into favor with the idea, especially having more of a sharing hub (my job) for offloading cases of what I make and getting feedback. That’s why I include the label on the bottom of each post (minus most of the “Past Recipes” from that intermediate period that we can call the “Dark Times”).

I’ve gotten a good deal of requests asking how I handle the label making and waxing aspects of brewing, so I finally got around to paying attention at bottling and taking photos and video of the process to share and, hopefully, inspire some others to try their hand at decorating the fruits of their labor.

I do want to emphasize a major point here: I’m not saying that if you do a different method that you’re wrong and that this is the best/only acceptable method. This is just my way and I’ve had a great deal of success with it.

|LABEL MAKING|

I’m going to try and make this as general as possible. That means that I’m not going to geek out over design things like kerning vs. tracking, typeface selection, or composition. It’s gonna be a little more barebones than that.

The first thing that you’re going to need is some sort of photo editing software, be it GIMP, Photoshop, Illustrator – hell, MS Paint – to make the labels. Some basic notes:

Typical labels for 12 oz bottles are 3.5″ x 4″ (or closer to 3.5″ x 7″ for a full wrap)

Typical bomber (22 oz) and 750 mL labels are 4″ x 8″

You should be working at least in 200 dpi resolution (300 is the recommendation for printing in general, as well as CMYK mode for color)

You’ll most likely be using an inkjet printer for this, but it’d be best if you have one that can do high-quality photo printing. If you can swing a laserjet, though, that’d be ideal.

You’ll most likely going to be printing on 8.5″ x 11″ paper (letter size), but if you’re not, you need to account for the size difference.

I personally use Photoshop. Just saying that, I can hear other designers screeching that Illustrator’s vector-base system is better but… it’s all personal taste, honestly. Also, I never learned how to efficiently use Illustrator and I’m pretty confident in my abilities with Photoshop, so… Photoshop it is. Plus, when you work in a high enough resolution for printing projects this size, it’s hardly matters that much.

I can’t really guide you on naming a beer or making a label. That’s going to have to be your own spirit quest. Just figure out what size you want to make it and then go ape. The world is your oyster.

Once you have your program set up and your design ready, you’re going to need to figure out just what you’re going to print on. In fairness, you can use almost anything as a label. When I started, I was literally using basic bitch printer paper and a glue stick. Some people swear by the milk adhesive method, but I’ve never fucked with it and I never intend to. Even then, before finding my current glass slipper of label paper, just using the Avery 8.5″ x 11″ adhesive label sheets was just fine and only marginally more expensive for a super easy to use label experience. While they are pretty easy to use, the fact that they are a matte label (which give super flat color, resulting in slightly drab labels) and are completely useless against water was a huge drawback.

To me, the Neato adhesive vinyl sheets are perfect. They’re a little pricier than other offerings, but I think the quality is worth it, especially if you buy in bulk. I actually contacted Neato directly about ordering in bulk and managed to get a 100-sheet pack for $120 and free shipping, saving me almost $30, and their customer service was excellent. The only thing that does suck about them is that they don’t have any sort of cut on the backing, which means that trying to separate the sticker from the paper is exercise in masochism. On the other hand, they come off bottles easily without leaving much, if any, residue, they look (almost) professional, and are resilient against water. Calling it $1.20 a sheet (averaging 3-5 labels a sheet), it ends up being cheaper than having someone else print the labels for you. They also have that slightly metallic/opalescent sheen to them that makes everything a little sexier and makes emulating gold and silver colors much easier than on regular paper.

Now that you have your label made and your medium selected, you’re going to need to make a layout for your labels. You’ll need to set up a new document for print and organize copies of your labels to maximize your space on the paper, trying to get as many onto one sheet as possible. For the two main forms that I use, here’s how my layouts end up looking:

Layout for 4″ x 7″ labels Layout for 3″ x 4.5″ labels

Just remember that you will need to leave some room on the sides for the printer, unless you have a photo printer that leaves minimal to no dead space on the edges.

Outside of that, all that’s left is to print. I typically will go into the detailed print settings and muck about with changing the paper type and a few other of the smaller detail settings, but it’s not a requirement. The paper, the resolution, and the quality of the printer are going to be the most crucial aspects that will define the final quality of the label, aside from your design.

Despite my usual methodology of “work smart, not hard”, there’s only so much that can apply to the next step: cutting the bitches out.

With the rectangular/square designs, it’s nice and easy – line ’em up and knock ’em down. Using a straight edge/ruler and an Xacto knife, you can trim a sheet in under a minute. But with more elaborate designs (such as the sour series or Kabuki Theater), you’re gonna be in it for the long haul.

What I’m saying is that I don’t have a die-cut set-up or a jig. I have to cut everything by hand with a pair of scissors. And yes, it sucks just as much as it sounds.

In the words of Courage, The Cowardly Dog, “The things I do for love”.

For all the work leading up to that point, putting the labels on the bottles is obscenely easy. Well, aside from fighting to get the backing off. Beyond that, it’s literally just sticking them onto bottles, where the hardest part is making sure that they’re on straight… enough.

|WAXING|

Aside from simply just labeling a bottle, I’ve often opted to wax some as well, more generally the sours than any others. It’s worth noting that, aside from ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣ qualities, wax essentially has no function on blocking air from getting into a bottle through a cork (caps are a different story) and its functional use might only be to help keep the cap on a super carbonated brew. And unlike Paste, I’m not a little bitch and I can handle taking thirty seconds to pop off the wax on a bottle. Some of this might also be that my waxing method seems to come off cleanly and not be too much of a hassle, unlike some other blends/mixes that other breweries are using.

The wax blend that I use for the bottles is a blend of wax and glue sticks, which is a trick I learned from a local brewer on how he did the waxing for his bottles. The ends up yielding a nice middle ground of durability and fashion. The wax also doesn’t chip or flake off, similar to how opening a bottle of Maker’s Mark is not a sisyphusian ordeal. Pretty much, it ends up being somewhere around a 1:1 or a 2:1 ratio of glue stick to wax, bee or paraffin (I use the later, as it’s cheaper).

Here’s what you’re going to need for this method of waxing:

A Stove or a hot plate

A pan that you don’t care about (just in case)

A coffee can (harder to come by these days) or a large soup can (think Progresso’s)

Wax (paraffin, bee, soy, etc.)

Glue sticks (which you can buy in bulk on Amazon for like $25 and will last you forever)

Crayons or candle colorants (Pony up for Crayola. Don’t be a cheap fuck and buy Roseart)

Something you don’t care about to stir with (because this shit is not coming off)

Comes in 4 large blocks – 1 to 2 is enough for two cases. Just buy a box of these fuckers for $20 Jumbo Crayola crayon for extra coloring power

A majority of these components are readily available with a quick trip to the grocery store (paraffin blocks are in the canning section). You can also buy pre-colored wax beads at most homebrew stores, but I’ve not experimented with them, so I can’t give any feedback on how well they work.

I’ll also mention that there are other additives you can buy or put in to swank up the wax further, for example mica powder is you want the pearlescent metallic finish or glitter if you want to have a beer that causes Lisa Frank flashbacks to elementary school and deal with having the herpes of the art world up in your business for god knows how long (if you go the chaotic evil route, get the extra fine glitter).

To start with, you put the pan on the stove and put the can in the pan. The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. Sorry.

If you really care about trying to prevent absolutely any scorching of the wax, you can submerge it in a hot water bath, kinda like making a double boiler for chocolate, but as long as you have a buffer between your heating element and your can, you’re probably good. Putting the can directly on the heating element is doable, but I don’t recommend it. That’s how you’ll be more likely to start burning your wax, which will lead to discoloration. It also gives you less of a buffer for temperature control as well as eliminating any sort of drip control.

The first step is going to be that you need to process the glue sticks and wax before they go into the can to melt and mingle. It’s not imperative you do this, but if you don’t, it’s gonna take one hell of a long time for all those huge chunks to melt. By breaking them down into bite-sized little pieces, it’ll help cut that time down drastically. The glue sticks are pretty easy – either a strong pair of scissors or a nice, sharp knife will do the trick. Depending on the size of block of wax (or whatever for you buy it in), you might either want to chunk it with the knife as well or you can also use a cheese grater to shred it into pseudo-pearls (or shell out extra coin to get the pre-made pearls if you’re feeling lazy).

Either way, put them both into the can at the same time. The wax will act as a little bit of a flux and will help melt the glue chunks once it liquefies.

The nice thing is that you can re-use wax and cans until they die, so there’s already a small layer of yellow wax (from a previous beer) in the bottom of this that I also reclaimed for this new batch.

Once the wax starts melting a bit, you can also start adding what you’re using to color the wax as well. Typically, I like to add crayons in small chunks to the mix, stopping once I get the color I like. For a half can’s worth of wax, you could use anywhere from 2-5 crayons, depending on how extravagant you’re getting with color or how many you are mixing to achieve you specific color blend.

From there, it’s really a waiting game. You just need to wait until the glue sticks are melted and everything is a nice homogeneous mixture with no lumps. It might take some time. I don’t recommend ramping the heat all the way up to high, but a medium to medium-high setting is good enough. You’re already in the throes of a tedious undertaking, let’s not start trying to cut corners or rush now.

For lack of a better term, I’m going to use soap terminology for trying to describe the mix that I look for. Ideally, I like to have a medium trace with the wax mixture. This means that it’s still a nice liquid, but thick enough that when you pull out your mixing implement, you can see the drizzle lay on top of the surface for about a second before it melts back into the blend. Something like this:

It shouldn’t be thick and gloppy, but it shouldn’t be too watery. It might take some adjusting, but you can always add more wax or glue sticks to get where you need it (glue sticks thicken, wax thins).

Once you reach this point, you’re ready to start dipping. Make sure that your bottle are nice and dry and turn the heat down to about low-medium (3-4?). You’re going to need to keep the heat on, as continually dipping bottles will cool the wax. If it gets too cold, give it a little time to warm back up before you continue. However, do be careful about getting it too hot, as it will thin out more on the bottle, leaving you with longer drips and less coverage on the top of the bottle.

With dipping the bottles, I’ve found that there’s a little nuance to the technique. For best balance of coverage and getting some nice little sprigs of wax down the side, I’d suggest dipping the bottle about 1″ – 1.5″ into the wax and then rolling it before you stand it upright and letting gravity do its thing. I mean, you most certainly can just dunk the bottles in like a barbarian and let Jesus take the wheel, but I’ve found either doing a “push-roll” like pouring wine (like you’re revving a motorcycle, but push with the heel of your palm/wrist and keep the bottle in one place) or just using two hands and spinning the bottle until it stops dribbling yields a nice, even coating and helps conserve the wax in the can to help it go a little further. For me, it’s maybe two or three spins.

It takes a little bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can bang out like 2 cases of bottles in about 7-10 minutes, easy.

With this method and blend, I recommend labeling before waxing, as it makes it easier, but it’s not mandatory. The wax doesn’t stick super hard to the bottle and most of the tendrils shouldn’t get far enough down to impede putting a label on the side of the bottle, but if you’re going to do collar labels as well, that will absolutely have to be done before waxing.

Aside from that, the wax will just drip and harden. Occasionally, I’ve seen some small splits and cracks form while the bottles are cooling. I’m guessing that this is stress from dipping while the wax is either too hot and the shrinkage of the outer wax versus the inner wax causes the splitting or it could just be that my mixing was slightly off that day. I don’t have a 100% scientific answer to that one, but usually it’s not enough to ruin the wax job entirely and it’s not even all of the bottles, just a few. Usually, they seem to form around the lip, the tip of the cork/cap, or underneath the crown area, where the wax is the thinnest. This current batch is looking select.

There you have it! My tips and tricks for labeling and waxing. Hopefully revealing the code behind the matrix will get a few more people interested in putting some more flair on their bottles. And even if you only want to do a few bottles for gifts or special events, none of these ingredients spoil. You can hold onto them indefinitely. I have like 3 cans I use for waxing and they all have little remnants in the bottom that I just will put more on top of and keep reusing – almost like a solera wax method.