“You can have the best beer, but a label is what sells the product,”

One of the coolest labels Ive seen is Williamsburg Alewerks Red Marker Ale, just reminds me of good times, but Ive only drank the beer once...
On the other hand, Pliny is a pretty basic label, and that doesnt seem to hurt that beer's popularity.

 

Westveleteren thinks other wise. Granted they're not in the brew game to maximize profits

 

Not surprising an artist would say something like this. Do you think the Lost Abbey brewer would agree with him? And while a good label might sell a beer once, nobody is going back to a bad beer because it has a cool label. And a great beer will sell with no label at all.

 

When I first started getting into craft beer I would overlook certain beers because of their label.

Now, a good label will catch my attention but I will not pass over a beer just because the label isn't interesting/appealing.

I think when I started getting into Belgians I stopped caring about labels.

 

Not if no one tastes it.

Covers sell books and magazines. Boxes sell toys and software. Labels and tap handles sell beer.

Taste sells when you can get immediate feedback, like a bar or brewery. Labels sell when you can't get immediate feedback, like most retail outlets. (Small bottle shops can sell on taste, either through tastings or knowledgeable staff, but those are few and far between.)

Of course, this only applies if someone doesn't know what to buy. Brand loyalty accounts for lots of sales. BMC bets on brand loyalty and wins big every time.

 

Rochefort is incredibly simple too.
The font they use is admittedly badass though.

There is some legitimacy to the label directly correlating with sales. Word of mouth overrides that when people realize how good something is.

 

Brings to mind putting lipstick on a pig.

 

Whatever happened to "you can't judge a book by its cover". Labels are a part of advertising and marketing. If you allow youself to be influenced by what others do to persuade you to buy a product based simply on advertising and marketing, so be it. Of course, it is difficult to make yourself immune to all types of advertising and marketing since everybody has a soft spot [even Superman] but you need to take a step back and look at the advertising/marketing stimuli objectively.

 

I can see what he's saying.

I can think of one brewery in particular who has a far greater presence, retail wise, than other similar-sized folks who make a far superior product and who have also been around longer.

Their company name is good, the labels are nice, beers have sorta cool "earthy" names, and their logo is honestly one of the best IMO, but their beers aren't anything special. Also too, at festivals they seem to absolutely kill it selling t-shirts, especially the $25 girl tees. (I know I've bought two!)

They aren't relying on word of mouth, they are relying on "Cool label, I'll try that instead of this...".

Which is totally fine. People who pick up a beer because of the label are more likely to like that beer than some super complex beer with a crappy label.

And, I have heard from different brewers discussing not only labeling, but how straight it's put on, whether it's marked up, whether it's peeling, etc... as a reflection of either the care you can expect in the beer, or that it could be that they are just swamped filling orders, which in turn may also affect the beer.

 

hey person being quoted, explain how Weyerbacher sells anything. I avoided buying Double Simcoe because the label looks worse than something I did high and drunk after Taco Bell and before a dump.

 

Marketing works.

Many people are suckers.

Why are these truths so hard to accept?

 

Yeah, they obviously put more time into the beer than the labels and I'm okay with that. Double Simcoe didn't cross these lips until after I realized that I love simcoe(thank homebrewing for that one).

 

Pretty simple, people that reguarly post on a site like BA are generally looking a bit deeper, and are likely to be more informed, so from some of our frames of reference this might sound silly. But I'd think randoms wandering into a beer store simply looking for something non-BMC are more likely to be affected by a label.

 

A label will perhaps sell one bottle or two. After the bottles have been opened the customer knows what he's bought.

 

The number of bottles from Haandbryggieriet I have purchased disagrees with this assessment. I also think that, other than the Veritas line, that Lost Abbey's labels are hideous -- and they hit a new low with the most recent Box Set label.

http://www.lostabbey.com/lost-abbey-beers/box-set/track-7/

Don't get me wrong -- I would give a lot to get to try it. I would just cover up the label so no one else could see it.

 

Funny that this is coming from Lost Abbey. They wouldn't be high up on my list of well designed, eye-catching bottles.

 

problem is that I dont like Somcoe by itself in a hoppy beer. So I didnt like it, although I did like Victory Headwaters Pale which had the tell tale Simcoe awfulness but enough of the other notes to pull it through.

 

The only thing that gets my attention on a label is the date code. Sometimes the artwork demands a second look, but after the liquid is safely in the glass. Honestly, I care about the taste, first and foremost.