There are many kinds of beer labels. Some are more convenient for the home brewer than others. We will now present some of the more usual types and some more special that would make your home brew look very professional.

Papel label

This is the most common type of label. It’s perfect for home brewers since you can print it out on your home printer and glue it on with regular milk. Yes, milk is very convenient as it easily accessible and holds the label on very well. Since it isn’t sticky you have time to adjust the label before it hardens. It’s also very easy to remove the label with plain water. A very environmental friendly method that we think commercial breweries should use too! Some commercial breweries use a glue that is water solvable but some use some sticky glue that you must use chemicals to remove. Boycott those breweries!

The papel labels can be printed on different kind of printers or be ordered from a print shop. If you print it buy your self we recommend a laser printer since it doesn’t smear off when it becomes wet when applied to the bottle. If you only have a black and white printer you can use colored paper to make more elaborate designs.

Plastic label

On some bottles there are transparent plastic labels that look like the graphic is printed right on the bottle. Never buy these beers if you want to reuse the bottle for your home brew. The plastic is generally very hard to remove. It’s also not as environmental friendly as a paper label.

But this method could be used as a home brewer since you could use the same label over and over again for the same beer.

Some commercial breweries (like the one pictured above) use plastic labels without transparency. We think this is utterly stupid, please contact any brewery using this method and ask for a change.

Aluminium can

For some reason cans are becoming more and more popular with small craft breweries. The trend started with Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues Brewery. Cans are easier to handle and transport. The downside with cans is that they are sprayed with an epoxy resin on the inside to prevent corrosion. This coating can leak BPA (Bisphenol A) into the beer. The effects of this is out of our knowledge so research for your own if you but a lot of canned beer. Ask your favourite brewery of what coating they use in their cans.

Cans are generally not used by DIY:eres and why would you?

Printed bottle

There are many ways to print directly on the bottle. From stamping or using a stencil for DIY:ers to silk screen and direct printing on a commercial level. We will present a number of techniques on this page that can be used at home.

Etching

Etching on the bottle is a interesting technique for the home brewer is it can look very exclusive. It is rarely used in commercial brewing as it is very costly but as a home brewer you reuse the same bottle over and over again. Use small labels or hand writing on conjunction with an etched label to be able to do different beers in the same bottle.

Wrapped label

Wrapping the whole bottle in a printed paper can make an exclusive look on any beer. It’s most commonly used by small belgian breweries and is of course also a feasible project for a home brewer.

Decoration and other techniques

Only the imagination is the limit for your creativity. Add decoration to your bottle in form of strings or paper craft. You can look at scrapbooking for inspiration but be aware that it may look tacky!