I'm brewing some beer for a wedding present. Going to bottle half the batch and serve the other half at a party. I have a full-color PDF with a label design, and would like the nicest-looking labels possible. I'm probably only going to do about a dozen bottles. What are my options?
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Well, it's not -easy- but I've seen a method unrelated to beer used on a bottle. Looked quite nice, actually. As a simple art project, friend of mine used photo paper in a plain inkjet printer to make a "label". Which was then scissor cut by hand and adhered using clear packing tape, also scissor cut to make a clean back edge. Don't know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for, but the clear tape layer did a good job protecting the photo paper and would do well to protect a bottle label - so long as it wasn't doused in a cooler full of ice water. A bonus would be that cleaning off the bottle for re-use would be as easy as pulling off some clear packing tape. Or using "goo-gone" if it's stubborn. ;) |
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Beerlabelizer.com is great. |
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You could always make a template with 3-4 copies in an 8.5"*11" PDF file and take it to a professional printer. The number of copies would be dependent upon the size of the labels. Post an update in the future with the picture of the label in the original post, just for fun. |
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For my wine I use a place called Landmark Label in Fremont. You have to order 500 labels minimum and they come on a roll (of 500), but you could do something that has a logo or whatnot and then an area where you could write in the details so you could use the same roll for years to come. You just contact them and send over the PDF, pick out your paper and rock and roll. |
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I make my labels in business card format using Microsoft Publisher. Print them on perforated business card stock, spray both sides with clear lacquer (to make them waterproof so they don't run in the cooler) punch a single hole in the corner and tie them to your bottles using string. The main advantage to this method is that you don't have to scrape the labels off when you're done - just cut the strings. |
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I got some label paper from midwest supplies, they have a word document that you can download and put your PDF into each slot, I think it's nine per sheet, and then print them out on the label paper, they're self adhesive and look really nice. I would order them again if needed. I never put them in a cooler though, I don't know how well they stay on in an ice bath. |
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Rather than buying expensive sticker labels, a great (and surprising) trick you can use to adhere paper labels is to just put a little bit of milk on them. Get them slightly wet and stick them on, and as the milk dries it will stick to the bottle (it won't turn sour and start to smell). |
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Just go to kinkos or some place like that and print them on a color laser printer, cut them out and stick them on with milk. I've done this with a number of labels for beer and wine. They look pretty darn professional and they don't run if they get wet. |
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