(Aleheads.com) – The craft brewing proliferation over the past few decades has increased the number of beers on package store shelves exponentially. With greater variety comes a greater need to differentiate your product. You can certainly do that by making better beer than your competition. Or by pushing the envelope with extreme beers. Or by developing new, unique styles. But one of the easiest ways to truly set your product apart from others is through the tried and true method of good marketing. Slap a pretty label on your bottles and all eyes will be on your beer. Granted, you need a good brew to keep the masses returning to your suds, but a great label is still one of the best ways to get your product sold in the first place.

As per usual, this list ONLY includes American craft beers. No macros and no imports. That includes Canada, so you won’t see the beautiful labels from Unibroue or Dieu Du Ciel on this list. Only ONE label was allowed per brewery. This was to prevent ale factories like Left Hand, Three Floyds, and Odell from utterly dominating the list.

There are close to 1,800 breweries in the US right now and I clearly haven’t seen every label produced by every one. If your favorite brewery is conspicuously absent, don’t get too upset…I’m just one man. I DID ask the other Aleheads for some suggestions, but other than a few regional suggestions from Kid Carboy in the Midwest, Sudsy in the Northeast (he recommended the #1 offering), and Beerford in the Pacific Northwest, the other Aleheads mostly agreed with my picks. When you’re talking about the “best” beer labels, you’re making completely arbitrary, highly subjective decisions. This list really just represents my specific aesthetic tastes and absolutely NO ONE else will agree with it. I’m not even sure I agree with it. Beyond that, I tried to “rank” the Top 100 which was really just silly. Is #47 really better than #48? Probably not. It really doesn’t matter.

So don’t let the rankings or any glaring omissions irk you. Just bask in the brilliant glory of America’s “best” beer labels. Enjoy

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inspiration. And now, my fellow Aleheads, let us know which labels we

missed. We did the best we could, but there’s just so much good artwork

out there. Surely some masterpieces fell through the cracks! Thank you beer label artists for providing us with such aestheticinspiration. And now, my fellow Aleheads, let us know which labels wemissed. We did the best we could, but there’s just so much good artworkout there. Surely some masterpieces fell through the cracks!