Bad beer labels that deter you from buying?

I've met Scott. Isn't Edward and Morgan on the label as well. I don't know/haven't met the rest. Who is that guy Lil' B? I do love Evil Twin Lil' B?

 

I'm with you, their 'label art' to me is just absurd

 

Maine Brewing Co.

Way too much going on, confusing, hard to tell what style.

 

For the most part, label art doesn't deter me from buying. Case in point: I didn't used to be a huge fan of Founders' labels, and as I've become a bigger and bigger fan of their beer, I've come to appreciate their labels more and more. In fact, I think that in many cases, their labels are done to mimic various periods of high art in terms of style and feel:

Pale Ale and IPA = Art Noveau
Double Trouble = Surrealism
Reds Rye and Dirty Bastard = Impressionism
Porter = Romanticism
FBS = Rockwell(ian)
Curmudgeon = Neoclassicism
Rubaeus = Botanical Illustration style

But there is always an exception to the rule. There are beers that I haven't and probably won't try anytime soon because the labels are off-putting enough to be lower on the list in such a vast sea of beers to try. If the industry was like it was 15-20 years ago, with fewer offerings, the situation might be different. But as long as there is a huge selection from which to choose, labeling will continue to matter to some degree.

Case in point: I haven't tried anything from Hoppin' Frog, mostly I have a hard time bringing myself to buy beers that are so pricey that have such cheap-looking labels.

 

I know Rich and Scott are on there, as well as Edward and Morgan. Not sure the others.

 

I'm not talking about Founders.

 

The contrary can also be true. I swear some of these guys spend more money on graphic design than they do cleaning out their tanks between batches.

 

THAT! Eh?

 

Ballast Point has cool labels, especially Sea Monster. Great Stout too!

 

Granted bad labels means they could have spent more time on the beer...

 

I cant imagine not trying a beer because you dont like the label. You dont consume the label. To me, that is beyond absurd, especially because most labels are dumb looking, plain-jane or dont make any sense anyways. By that logic you can only frequent establishments and consume brands that invest in a level of art that meets your refined and sophisticated level of acceptance, right?

 

For the longest time I won't try Weyerbacher because their old labels were so bad, but once I tried their beer I was able to forgive them for having bad labels.

 

A good beer can make a bad label look sexy

 

DARK HORSE. The worst offenders, and just AMAZING beer. Sits on the shelf here in NY bc of it, but draft flies. Perfect example...

 

I love the simple graphic labels - Brewdog, Foothills, etc. I think Smuttynose labels look like something out of those stores that sell hunting paintings for grandparents. You know what I'm talking about, "Farrington's Fine Art" in downtown nowhere. It took a friend's recommendation to ever try their beers.

 

I always walked right by Firestone. Their labels are poorly colored and I just overlooked them. Soild beers though. Also, I'm an Okie, The Prairie labels are amazing.

 

This.

I bought Alpha's Bruer off the shelf last time I was in STL. Very plain artwork, nothing remotely flashy. I can dig that

 

It has nothing to do with "refined" or "sophisticated", so no, your logic is incredibly flawed. Having standards is not the same as having high standards. I don't expect the beer labels I buy to look like fine art--mostly, I just want them to look like the brewer/company put a minimum level of thought into them. That they care.

I would argue that everyone has a standard on some level. Otherwise all beer labels would look like this:



Are you telling me that you wouldn't have even a slight hesitation about buying that beer?

Granted that's an extreme, but it's meant to illustrate that everyone has some level of discernment. It's just a matter of where it is.

 

I've seen a few good reviews from this brewery but their name and logo turns me off from ever trying their beers.

 

we all like to point out the negatives in things, so in the spirit of beer, I'll say that Founders makes my favorite labels, especially their backstage series graphics. ON POINT!!

 

if you don't know anything about beers or breweries, then of course the labels will sway you in one direction from the other. Everyone likes good looking things. We are a material society, and breweries should play towards that, but some don't because they either don't have the funds or just don't give a crap. In the end, the beer will speak for itself, which is why Russian River makes a killing off their ugly looking bottles, but oh so beautiful beer. Should breweries care more about their labels? Probably. Will you get over it? Probably.

 

disagree. their backstage series graphics are great!

 

I would like to read examples of mediocre beer made better by really cool looking labels -


*edit : I really like the mickeys bee - but wow that's probably the worst beer I've ever had

 

Bad label art? DP that sucker, straight away.

 

Bad label art might not deter people like us from buying beers because for the most part we know and are familiar with these breweries (The Bruery, Russian River, etc.), but you would have to be an idiot to not think that labels and cover art aren't one of the main factors for craft beer popularity among mainstream beer drinkers.

 

Good design connotes quality. And vice versa.

 

If the beer pictured above sounded good, then no, I would have no hesitation buying it. Now if a brewery slapped a piece of shit (literally) on the label, then no I wouldn't buy that beer mainly because I would think they're idiots and I wouldn't want to support them. It sounded like to me, the OP and some of the following comments said they wouldn't even research or try a beer that had a label that didnt meet some standard of acceptance. To me thats ridiculous, to you and others its perfectly acceptable and that's fine. Different strokes for different folks, no one is right or wrong on this, thats the beauty of what makes us different. We just disagree.

 

I enjoy some , hate some others. It's just that there is no uniformity to their lineup labels.

BEST:
All the breakfast stout varieties.
All Day IPA
Curmudgeon

AWFUL:
Dirty Bastard (teh fuh?)
Centennial

 

But on some level, labeling matters to you, per the first bolded part of your comment. The OP mentioned that cheap, sloppy, etc. graphics/labels are a deterrent. For you, putting pictures of fecal matter on the label is a deterrent. The only difference is the threshold that officially sways you from getting a beer--which is, of course, fine. As you said, different strokes and such.

We agree that there is no right or wrong (although this quote "To me that's ridiculous" seems to suggest that maybe you do think there is a right/wrong, but no matter). I'm merely pointing out that everyone uses labels as a clue to some degree or another. The only question is to what degree..

 

No

 

as a cook i feel the big cartoony, and colorful labels grasp my attention a LOT more then the uncolorfull and bland labels- just like in food, a super colorful dish is going to get my attention a lot quicker then the look of a bland one...... I know when it comes to taste it doesn't matter AT ALL tho...Only way you see which is better is by drinking it obviously...if I'm having a hard choice making a decision though I'm going to go with the more colorful and appealing box/label. Just how I am, haha.

 

Another rather terrible example is Rock Art Brewery http://imgur.com/NR2K60f

I guess I just have a hard time believing that if a consumer knew nothing beforehand about this beer/brewery (or some of the others mentioned in this thread so far) that they would still choose it over, for instance, Left Hand's Twin Sister http://imgur.com/oq5j2RW or Odell's Myrcenary http://imgur.com/eO5j5rd

 

boxes like nugget nectar and Ithacas flower power really got me, haha. awesome artwork