Craft beer: history and labels

The craft beer trend emerged in the United States in the 1970s. As in Europe, large breweries ruled the roost. In response, fans of quality beers began brewing their own.

Team • 2026-04-17

Tendances

The history of craft beer

The craft beer trend emerged in the United States in the 1970s. As in Europe, the big breweries ruled the roost. In response, connoisseurs of quality beers began brewing their own. The emphasis was on craft brewing of different types of beer. Slowly but surely, more and more microbreweries and beer variants sprang up, appealing to a wider and wider audience from the 1980s onwards. This phenomenon, known as craft beer, has spread throughout the world.

What is craft beer?

Artisanal beer is also known as “craft beer”. Most craft beers meet several of the following characteristics: they are handcrafted, brewed with passion in a hobby or microbrewery, or made by brewers who are passionate about brewing original, pure, honest and delicious beer in their own style. So, by definition, it’s not a mass-produced beer!

Each variant of craft beer is therefore unique, often made as its own version of special beers such as IPA (beer with lots of hops), Porter (dark beer with brown malt and lots of hops), Stout (a strong version of Porter), “Saison” (originally Belgian, a slightly lighter, “fresher” beer, brewed after the harvest of surplus grain).

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How does the beer market break down?

In France, the number of breweries has risen rapidly in recent years to over 2,000 in total, ranging from the very small to the very large. This increase is mainly due to the growing popularity of craft beer. There are around 25-30 large industrial breweries in France, accounting for the majority of beer production in terms of volume.

The remainder is made up of small, local, craft breweries, each producing many different beers: from several dozen to several hundred per brewery.

In Belgium, there are over 400 breweries, with a slight downward trend! This decline is due to an oversaturated market, combined with rising costs and increasing pressure on economic performance. Belgium is home to some twenty large industrial breweries, which account for the majority of beer production by volume.

Labels for craft beer

Craft beer labels have at least one thing in common: they stand out!

If there’s one thing that’s important when it comes to craft beer labels, it’s that the label should be highly original. Not only to stand out from the crowd, but also to reflect the uniqueness of the brewery, the brewer or the beer itself.

Examples of special designs for craft beer labels:

A label designed and written entirely by hand
Designing a label in the form of a comic strip
Use of bright colors or special fonts
Design created by an artist
Different label shape, or several labels forming a single label.
Use of local celebrities: historical or current people, buildings, etc.
The story of the beer or brewery can be told, literally or symbolically, as part of storytelling.

Our design service will be happy to help you turn your creative ideas into a unique design for your craft beer labels.

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