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Growlers VS. Crowlers: What’s the Difference?

⚞ The Highlights:

A growler is a reusable jug, typically glass or stainless steel, for transporting draft beer, while a crowler is a single-use aluminum can that’s filled and sealed on demand.
Growlers commonly come in 64 oz. jugs requiring labels around 4×6 inches, while crowlers are typically 32 oz. cans needing labels closer to 6×9.5 inches.
In comparison, a standard 12 oz. beer bottle or can holds less than a 32 or 64 oz. container and generally needs a shorter label—often around 3.625×8 inches.

What is a growler? If you’re a beer aficionado, you’ve heard of the growler. Growlers are airtight glass, steel or ceramic jugs that provide patrons with a portable, refillable vessel that can be filled up with draft beer at your favorite craft brewery and taken on the go. As the name might suggest, growlers are quite large in size and can transport a lot of beer—64 ounces, to be exact, or a little more than five bottles of beer—while half growlers (called howlers) can hold a respectable 32 ounces. Some herald growlers and howlers as a more mobile flavor-keeping keg. Indeed, what a time to be alive!

So, what can make the new age of beer transport even better? In comes the crowler. But what is a crowler of beer? It’s the half growler’s aluminum twin. If you haven’t seen a 32-ounce crowler can of beer yet, you will – and you will love it. However, is one portable beer vessel a better option than the other? Both crowlers and growlers have their perks, so keep reading to find out which may be the better fit for your needs.

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5 Hot Foil Label Designs We Love

One of the things we love most about our job is that we work directly with some of America’s best packaging designers. The most successful projects are a collaborative effort between the brand owners, designers, and packaging vendors to make products that capture the customer’s interest and imagination. These projects use a variety of decoration techniques like embossing, spot varnishes, and screen printing to achieve a high level of complexity and depth.

Of all the decoration techniques, hot foil stamping stands out as the most effective. At a relatively low cost per piece, gold, silver, and other types of foils can be used to create outstanding, multifaceted compositions very economically. We’ve compiled five hot foil label projects that we had a lot of fun working on to demonstrate the versatility of foil stamping, especially when used in combination with digital printing.

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Craft Spirits Packaging and Label Design Trends

If you are in the craft spirits industry, you know that the competition has gotten more fierce in recent years. More small brewers and distillers are entering the game, and setting yourself apart is the only way to capture a narrow — but rapidly growing — market. While you have to make a smooth concoction to keep loyal customers coming back, sparking that initial interest is a bit more difficult. Unique, eye-catching labels help to garner interest in your brand that can quickly grow into a loyal following.

Here are trends in labeling that you should consider as you decide on the alcohol bottle label design for your craft spirit labels.

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What Makes An Appealing Wine Label?

Many have heard the phrase, “people eat with their eyes.” But did you know that this theory could also be applied to shoppers browsing the wine aisle? Wine labels are an advertisement for shoppers. With hundreds of options in front of the consumer, it is crucial to have a label that stands out.

A custom wine label is a winery’s best selling tool. Our mission is to help you create an eye-catching and memorable wine label that will further your company’s success. Effective designs attain an understanding of the product, the company and the consumer. When designing your custom wine label, we believe the following three elements will help in producing a stunning label.

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The Joy of Sample Printing

When it comes to getting your product to the market, you’ve got to move fast. Materials have been paid for, distribution deals have been negotiated, and customers are waiting. Once you’ve selected your packaging containers and designed artwork for your labels, the last thing on your list is calling up your label printer and placing your order. Technically that’s true, once you’ve designed the label and picked out your materials you could go ahead and buy all the labels you’ll need, but there is one last thing that could make your life a lot easier: getting a printed proof prior to finalizing the order. When launching a new product, waiting a couple of days and paying a few extra bucks is probably the last thing on your mind, but there are a few good reasons you should.

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3 Color Psychology Design Insights to Consider For Your Label

Many people believe that color psychology is a key factor to consider when designing your product’s label. The thought of color experts is that colors have the ability to send messages by influencing consumer’s emotions through a stunning label. When color psychology is applied correctly, businesses competitively position themselves in the visual market, which shows the importance of color in packaging.

Color selection, then, is a vital part in the design process of a custom label. Here are 3 color psychology insights that attract customers for your product’s label design.

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Double or Nothing

Blue Label has experienced a lot of growth over the course of the last two years. In 2015 we produce three times as many labels per week as we did in 2013. We launched Blue Label with the idea that there would be people out there who would appreciate the highest quality labels in the shortest amount of time, and it looks like there are.

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Craft Beer In Cans: An Image Transformation

In case you haven’t noticed, the beer can, once viewed as a conduit for volume drinking, house parties and drinking games, is undergoing an image transformation. In recent years, craft brewers have begun embracing the can’s many advantages, elevating its once lowly status to trendy and hip. In fact, according to Russ Phillips from CraftCans.com, the number of craft breweries putting their beer in cans has more than doubled since 2012.

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Evaluating Your Label Amidst a Growing Craft Beer Market

If you have noticed an uptick of competition in the craft beer aisle of your local beer distributor, you are certainly not imagining anything. According to a recent report from the Brewers Association, the craft beer market experienced a record setting year in 2014, successfully grabbing 11 percent share of the overall market.

From a high-level perspective, this is great news for craft brewers. Americans have outgrown the traditional light lager, and are openly embracing the wide array of taste and sophistication the craft beer market has to offer.

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Craft Beer Label Trends to Keep an Eye On

Those who specialize in the craft of beer label design and printing understand just how large a role the label plays in establishing market share. A quality, eye-catching label, one that stands out on the crowded shelves, can give the craft brewer the edge needed to win the battle taking place in the beer aisle.

To help you remain ahead of your competition, we thought we would take a moment to review a few of the label design trends shaping the landscape.
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