Craft brewery serves up design freedom and stands out with shrink film

It is difficult to catch the eye of a discerning craft beer drinker in a competitive market with more than 6,300 breweries operating in the United States. Standing out among so many competitors is undeniably difficult, but one Kentucky brewery has found a way. According to the article “Crafty brewer harvests benefits from sleeve-labeled cans” in trade publication Packaging Digest:

“Beer growth has shifted toward craft breweries, a segment that seems to serve up a growing number of cans decorated using shrink-sleeve labels.”

Louisville-based brewery Against the Grain had been using printed cans, which are fairly limited in terms of visual possibilities. Printed cans also have long lead times and require purchasing large quantities of each SKU in advance, leaving smaller brewers with high up-front costs and not a lot of wiggle room to explore. To become nimbler — and to make a unique looking product — Against the Grain teamed up with experienced packaging company Verst Packaging and Eastman to create new shrink-labeled cans using Eastman Embrace™ LV copolyester (PETG).

With the new shrink-labeled cans, Against the Grain is able to produce more detailed, colorful 360-degree graphics that look as the artists intended. Against the Grain also uses matte finishes that, according to co-founder Sam J. Cruz, “give a more premium look and help consumers with gripping the beer cans.” And it goes without saying that tattooed zombie green great-aunts in athletic wear and human-ostrich pairings certainly stand out next to some of the tamer brands, contributing to what Packaging Digest calls a “holistic customer experience.”

“From a fiscal perspective, we’re able to hold a leaner inventory while maintaining a large number of SKUs,” says Cruz. “The quality control and lack of limitations with our graphics makes for cans that pop on the shelf.”

Using shrink labeling has opened up a wider range in the brands Against the Grain is able to produce due to the increased flexibility and financial leanness, Cruz tells Packaging Digest. This means they’ve had a lot more creative freedom, not just visually but also in terms of what new varieties they can make. Best of all, this newfound liberty and the exciting visuals have helped double their sales.

To see some of their designs and read more about how Against the Grain uses shrink sleeves on their beer cans, click here.

Read more #innovation stories from Eastman at Enhance.Eastman.com.