Recently we visited Jack and Mike from GREEN BOTTLING.
When we work with our customers, we always tell them to ‘Begin with the End in Mind’. This is a famous quote from Stephen Covey, among others. The point for us is that our job isn’t (really) done until your label is affixed to your product and the product is flying off the store shelves. We want to help all the way through the project. To help with that process, we work hard to partner with other great suppliers that serve our same customers. This means even though we don’t sell these directly, we can refer you to a good supplier of bottles, caps, label design, and many other items that a brewer needs. We can also suggest good marketing partners, web designers, and distributor partners. We even have a few good Brewery Lawyers to recommend!
One of our longest partnerships in the Craft Beer space is with Portland’s original mobile bottler, Green Bottling. Click here to visit their website, or call 503-223-BREW. This video shows them on a bottling line back in 2010 – putting our labels onto bottles at Southern Oregon Brewing (SOB) in Medford, OR. This was 6 years ago, and today Green is still out there helping great brewers get their product to market. Recently, the added 12 oz. bottles in 6 pack format to their main line, which is single 22 oz. bottles.
This partnership with Green Bottling is one of the oldest and most important we have at Rose City Label. We refer many customers back and forth because we trust each other and we work well together. They work hard to get our labels on the bottles quickly and efficiently. We offer special pricing for brewers if they are Green Bottling customers, so please make sure to mention that when you contact us if you qualify for this special savings.
Partnering with the right trade vendors has been key to our success in the Craft Beer business, and the partnership is one of the most important. Together we serve our customers so they can concentrate on making great beer.
Oregon businesses often lead the way when it comes to eco-friendly practices. We at Rose City Label are always on the lookout for new ways to reduce our impact on the local ecology. We’re also pretty enthusiastic about recognizing other local businesses that demonstrate their concern for the environment.
In some cases, those fellow Oregon businesses also happen to be Rose City Label clients. In recent years, the Pacific Northwest wine industry has seen a real shift towards sustainable business practices. From vineyard to bottling, we’ve seen a number of initiatives to “green up” our local wineries.
We Love Sustainable Oregon Wine Producers
Happily, sustainable Oregon wineries are getting due recognition for their efforts. Various news articles, online and in print, are giving praise to our state’s wine industry for its shift toward sustainable practices.
Of particular note is Rose City Label client Soter Vineyards. Their sustainability initiatives include multiple green certifications, in addition to the use of energy from renewable sources to produce their Willamette Valley varietals. In the Columbia River Gorge, Cerulean Wines is another of our clients who share our enthusiasm for sustainable business practices.
Salmon-Safe Vineyards
Several other Rose City Label clients have earned some well-deserved recognition for an array of sustainable practices. Over 200 Oregon and Washington vineyards carry a Salmon-Safe certification, and that number is sure to grow as awareness among farmers increases. Kudos to our clients who have led the way in Salmon-Safe grape cultivation:
If you’re interested in Salmon-Safe Certification for your vineyard, look for more information here.
Red, White, Rosé … and Green!
Looking for a more extensive list of “green” wine producers—or want to make sure your winery gets the eco-conscious recognition it deserves? You can find a detailed directory here, at one of our favorite wine-centric sites.
In the crowded beverage market, you only have a few seconds to catch a consumer’s attention. Their eye passes over the retail shelf so fast, you need to use every advantage to get them to stop and focus on you. Clear foil and embossing are a potent combination to make this happen.
Clear Foil Makes an Impact
In a fraction of a second, the light reflects off the embossed, clear foiled section of your label and calls out to the buyer – “Pick me!”. Sometimes this brief pause is all you need to get your product noticed. At that point, it is up to you and your product to keep the consumer coming back, but the label has done its job – getting the first bottle into the shopping cart.
How Do You Do That?
In this post late last year, we discussed our new, state of the art foil stamping and embossing press. This is a stand alone machine that can add foil to our digital or traditional press labels – it is very versatile and really adds a nice upgrade to any label. While the press can (and does) print any color of foil – gold, silver, holographic and more, using the clear foil feature like this really makes an impressive addition to the label. You can see the press in action by viewing this video on our YouTube channel. We have done foil stamping for years, but this new machine takes the process to a whole new level.
How Much Does it Cost?
As with all our custom printing, the answer is based on many factors. You need to send artwork to get a precise answer, and the biggest factor is the quantity of labels printed and the complexity of the foil and embossing. The setup for a job like this is about $450-650, but that tooling can be used for future runs with no additional setup. The actual printing charge varies from 35 cents per label down to 7 cents depending on the size of the run.
The important question is how this will impact your brand and drive sales in the market. This may be the best investment you make to improve your packaging.
If you trust Rose City Label with your printing project, we will do our part to help your product keep the consumer’s eye for just a second longer. Once they see it, and try it, it is up to the quality of the product to keep them coming back! Call us today to see if we can help.
With over 600 wineries in Oregon, it’s safe to say that we love our local wines here in the Willamette Valley and the surrounding regions. It’s also safe to say that the competition has become greater as the region’s reputation has grown among wine enthusiasts.
Wine lovers visiting your tasting room can use all their senses to select their favorite variety and vintage. However, most consumers have only their eyes to go by. This makes an eye-catching, durable label one of the best things you can do for your bottles. (On the outside, at least.)
Choosing a Stock for Wine Labels
Textured paper is a classic choice for labeling wine bottles. A bit of texture gives consumers a way to literally feel the passion and effort that’s gone into your product. Wine lovers like to use all their senses, so choosing a textured stock makes perfect sense.
Water resistance is also a concern, particularly for wines that are best served chilled. Thankfully, we’ve got years of experience with coatings and adhesives that will hold up even to an evening of being plunged in and out of an ice bucket.
Digital Printing for Wine Labels
Historically, the setup costs associated with producing a new label has left wineries with a choice: order new plates each year, or find some less efficient (and less attractive) way to distinguish one year’s bottling from previous harvests. Thankfully, our high-quality digital presses make changing the vintage (or any data on your label) as easy as typing it on a keyboard.
Skipping the setup costs and delay each year translates to real savings for any winery, large or small. Additionally, digital printing allows us to greatly reduce lead times. A new line, a logo change, adding a QR code, even a full redesign no longer means waiting months for delivery of your finished labels.
Wine Labels for Special Events
Does your winery produce special bottlings for weddings, openings, retreats and other special events? Imagine being able to offer a custom, personalized label as a value-added service. With digital wine label printing, we can produce as few or as many as you need, at a price point you’ll find attractive. We relish the opportunity to help you delight your customers.
When it comes to designing a label for your craft beer, you have several things to consider. In most cases, you’ll feature your brand and logo on every label, as well as your multipack packaging. So how best to maintain a cohesive brand style while making each individual brew stand out from its brethren? How do you deliver variations on a theme while making each brew instantly recognizable as part of your brand?
Part of the beauty of craft beer is its individuality; its uniqueness. For most brewers, this extends to the artwork on the label. In many cases, you already have a remarkable logo that reflects your business personality. By featuring your logo and using labels with variances in color, background image or even shape, you make each batch instantly recognizable to your loyal fans while introducing your brand to everyone who tries any of your beers for the first time.
Varying Labels by Beer Style
Many craft brewers will simply change the background color and the text to differentiate their IPA from their German Lager. Certainly, this will get the job done. However, this can make for a shelf display that’s rather lackluster.
Why not have a little fun with the feature of each brew? For example, you could underlay a subtle golden honeycomb design into the background of your honey wheat ale labels. Your double-hopped IPA labels could feature your logo artwork perched against a background of pen-and-ink-drawn hops. The possibilities are as limitless as the flavors of your craft brews.
Labeling Your Seasonal Brews
Seasonal craft beers are increasingly popular, and many brewers wisely capitalize on that consumer trend by offering a cycle of limited edition beers throughout the year. You can have fun with seasonal craft beer labels as well. As above, background images or patterns are a good choice.
You can also change the shape of your seasonal beer labels to reflect the flavors within. Imagine a summer shandy with the label die-cut into the shape of a lemon. Your fall flavors ale could feature a pumpkin-shaped label and the winter stout may have your logo emblazoned on a snowman’s chest.
Custom Beer Labels for Special Events
If you’re hosting an event, or providing libations for a wedding, company retreat or other affair, that can become a fabulous opportunity to pair your image with the theme of the celebration. Even if your usual label printing is done on a conventional printing press, Rose City Label can easily do a short run of special edition beer labels on our digital press.
Because there are no plates to manufacture, digital label printing is perfectly suited to short runs such as for special events. With this technology, you can create custom craft beer labels for community events without the setup expenses associated with traditional label printing. So don’t be afraid to feature your limited editions and special event brews with subtle changes in art framing your recognizable brand logo. Your consumers will be impressed with the detail.
Ready to discuss how we can help your collection of brews jump off the shelf with a unique set of eye-catching custom beer labels? Bring us your artwork and tell us your goals. We’ll help you determine the perfect way to make your craft beer collection stand out among the rest.
on a bottling line back in 2010 – putting our labels onto bottles at Southern Oregon Brewing (SOB) in Medford, OR. This was 6 years ago, and today Green is still out there helping great brewers get their product to market. Recently, the added 12 oz. bottles in 6 pack format to their main line, which is single 22 oz. bottles.
