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2014 Homebrew Label Contest Winners

By BYO Staff | Add to Favorites

Homebrew labels came from every region of the United States. They came from all over Canada. And they even came from far away lands including Argentina, Norway, and Poland. Some were made to commemorate weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and births; others to remember fallen soldiers, lost family members, and pets; and, of course, others were just made to immortalize and decorate their brewing creations.

Labels filled the office in recent weeks and left the staff at BYO with the daunting task of selecting our favorites. The labels were judged on creativity, style, color schemes, neatness, humor, how the labels would look on bottles, and any other attributes we came up with as we went along to argue for our favorites. We quickly realized the opinions among us were as diverse as the labels in front of us. Debates were loud and allegiances were formed as our selections were finally condensed down to four finalists. Then the real fun began and even mad scientist Doc Brown would have had trouble concocting an algorithm to choose a winner (or maybe we were just pushing off the return to our desks). In the end, we kept going back to Mike Lanzafame’s “1.21 GigaHops” label, awarding him the Grand Champion and bragging rights for the next 12 months.

Even if your label didn’t receive recognition, we hope the beer inside your bottles is reward enough and will help console you until next year’s label contest when we start back at square one. Of course, we couldn’t do this contest without our sponsors and the incredible prizes they contribute, so a big thanks goes out to all of them. Also, a big thanks to all of you who shared your creativity with us.

GRAND CHAMPION

MIKE LANZAFAME
Maplewood, New Jersey

Mike says his Achilles heel with brewing has always been the India pale ale style — a real tragedy for a hophead like him. But after lots of trial and error, Mike finally brewed an IPA to be proud of, and with it he needed an equally crafted label. Chance would have it that Mike was watching the 80s classic Back to the Future when he first tasted the beer. When Doc Brown uttered the phrase, “1.21 Gigawatts,” like a flash of lightening the name for his homebrew hit him — “1.21 GigaHops.” The label includes a couple of Back to the Future references. See if you can find them.

Prizes

BeerGun from Blichmann Engineering
6-gal. carboy from Better-Bottle®
Gift certificate from BrewerShirts.com
50-lb. sack of Rahr Pale Ale malt from BSG HandCraft
Gift certificate from High Gravity
Gift certificate from Love2Brew.com
Digital scale from Murietta Homebrew Emporium
Gift certificate from Northern Brewer
Gift certificate from Bader Beer & Wine Supply
Gift certificate from Quality Wine and Ale Supply
Gift certificate from Evermine
8 lbs. PBW & 32 oz. Star San from Five Star Chemicals & Supply, Inc.
Gift certificate from GrogTag

GOLD

ED COFFEY
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The label for Farmer in the Rye was designed by Ed’s wife, Marcy Coffey. The rye saison and label were made for an event last summer that raised money for organ donation awareness. The typography for the label was inspired by vintage signage and the illustration was custom hand-drawn and then digitized with an overlaid texture to give it a warn/distressed look.

Prizes

UNI-STAT II-G temperature controller from BH Enterprises
6-gal. carboy from Better-Bottle®
Weldless fixed BrewMometer from Blichmann Engineering
Gift certificate from BrewerShirts.com
50-lb. sack of Weyermann® Pilsner malt from BSG HandCraft
Gift certificate from How Do You Brew?
Gift certificate from Love2Brew.com
Gift certificate from Northern Brewer
Gift certificate from Bader Beer & Wine Supply
Gift certificate from Quality Wine and Ale Supply
8 lbs. PBW & 32 oz. Star San from Five Star Chemicals & Supply, Inc.
Gift certificate from GrogTag.

SILVER

MATT ELLIS
Silver Spring, Maryland

Matt is on active duty in the U.S. Navy and his Squid Ink label for this black IPA goes along with the underwater sea theme from other labels he sent us (which included LionFish Amber Ale and Puffer Fish Porter). Matt began brewing in 1995. His career in the Navy has put a hindrance on his homebrewing, but he says his current tour has allowed him to begin brewing more regularly again. The brother of his supportive bride owns a sign shop and helped bring his label design ideas to life.

Prizes

Gift certificate from Maryland Homebrew
6-gal. carboy from Better-Bottle®
Pair of Brewing Gloves from Blichmann Engineering
Gift certificate from BrewerShirts.com
1-lb. Chinook hop pellets from Hop Tech Home Brewing Supplies
Gift certificate from Northern Brewer
Gift certificate from Quality Wine and Ale Supply
8 lbs. PBW & 32 oz. Star San from Five Star Chemicals & Supply, Inc.
Gift certificate from GrogTag

BRONZE

ANDERSON MARTE
Whitestone, New York

Anderson, who is a graphic designer, wanted something “dark and metal” for his Death by Pumpkin label, and said the “skull just made sense.” The writing on this label was done by hand and was then scanned and edited in Illustrator. Death by Pumpkin is an annual brew made with real roasted pumpkins and is one of his wife’s favorites.