2024 Homebrew Label Contest Winners
As technology continues to evolve and design software is more accessible to amateur designers than ever before, maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise how much homebrew labels have improved since our first iteration of this competition 29 years ago. Yet, we were still left in awe as we sorted through hundreds of label submissions, proclaiming things like, “Oh, this one definitely deserves a top honor” over and over. The fact that we could only pick four top award-winners (and another 16 honorable mentions) made judging this year’s competition the hardest yet. Hey, it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it!
Images are a huge part of what makes a label great, but judges also considered each font, how information about the beer was presented, and how it would look on a bottle or can. And after we sorted out the top honors, the handful that just missed the cut were left to you, the reader, to decide a favorite for the coveted Reader’s Choice Award.
We hope you enjoy seeing our favorite labels as much as we do. Of course, we couldn’t do this without your submissions and the generosity of the sponsors who have donated prizes for the winners. So thank you!
GRAND
Gary Smet • Costa Mesa, California
There may have been labels that were more eye-catching in this year’s competition, but we kept going back to Broken Beacon for its simple, yet professional looking design. Kind of like a blonde ale, the label hits the spot in all the right ways even if it isn’t the most flashy.
Gary, the homebrewer behind Brewed on the Mesa, says the beer “got its name because I broke the hydrometer while brewing the beer. That’s why the lighthouse’s beacon is broken.”
GOLD
Mike Lanzafame • Springfield, New Jersey
Mike’s Binko Brewing has taken numerous medals from this competition over the years, but he says his only submission in the 2024 competition has additional sentiment. “It contains artwork created by my twin daughters. They recently were exposed to “Weird Al” Yankovic and really enjoyed his creativity and humor, so we put our heads together to figure out a way to collaborate that was fun and, of course, weird. In addition to the caricature of Al, the icons represent different subjects from his songs (Bus = Another one rides the bus, Ice Cream = I Love Rocky Road, etc.).”
SILVER
Allison Ronney • Bellingham, Washington
Allison created this label for her homebrewing husband, Marc, who stumbled upon the name after tasting his first attempt at a German dunkel. “When the day came to taste his creation, he was struck dumb. The dunkel was so incredibly smooth, so perfectly balanced, that Marc nearly dropped his glass in disbelief . . . Marc was so flabbergasted by how delicious his dunkel turned out that he nearly shouted, ‘I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!’ But then he paused, looked at his frothy masterpiece, and thought, ‘Why not name it that instead?’ And so, ‘The Monkey’s Dunkel’ was born.
BRONZE
Molly Allanson • Saint Augustine, Florida
This label depicting astronauts lounging on an alien beach watching a planet being destroyed by a black hole was designed for the Spacecoast Associates of the Advancement of Zymurgy (SAAZ) homebrew club. The beer was given to volunteers at their annual competition, Molly’s brother-in-law Seth Grablow explained, adding that the name came from a mishap on brew day. “During wort transfer to our boil kettle, we found the valve at the bottom of the kettle was not closed, resulting in wort spilling on the brewer’s garage floor. This caused chaos during the brew day while the members who showed up went scrambling to get towels.”
READER’S CHOICE
Chad Zeman • Owatonna, Minnesota
Among many of our favorite Honorable Mention labels, Liquid Hop Dish received nearly 200 “likes” on Facebook to win the Reader’s Choice Award. Chad described the concept of the label as a play on a Minnesota favorite. “Up in Minnesota, we call a casserole a hot dish. Literally there are 1,000s of different recipes for hot dish (but obviously tater tot hot dish is the best). The Liquid Hop Dish is a rotating hazy IPA recipe for me that uses Incognito® and whatever other hops sound delicious. The art is attempting to riff on Salvador Dali’s melting clock and represent the dripping yet whimsical flavors.”
HONORABLE MENTION
