Beer Bottle Label Law

[hambrook]

I'm in the process of going 'legit' and have registered with customs and excise / environmental health. I've had some bottle labels designed but want to make sure it complies with all labelling law and requirements.

Does anyone have a link to a list of what is REQUIRED on a beer label and what is NICE TO HAVE?

[Secla]

Ingredients and alcohol by vol would be definite
Wouldn't be surprised if the whole drink responsibly 2-3 units a day blah blah blah needs to be on there to

[gobuchul]

Some guidance here

http://www.merton.gov.uk/alcoholguidance.pdf

[stuey]

I'm in the process of going 'legit' and have registered with customs and excise / environmental health. I've had some bottle labels designed but want to make sure it complies with all labelling law and requirements.

Does anyone have a link to a list of what is REQUIRED on a beer label and what is NICE TO HAVE?

Your safest option would be to have a chat with your local trading standards officer. Email them the designs and get them to tell you if they're happy.

Trading standards officers all seem to have differing opinions on what they want your labels to look like.

I know that sounds ridiculous but it is fact based on personal experience.

There is a standard document that they work to (again ask and they will send it to you) but it can be interpreted in many ways hence my advice for you to speak with them.

[simon12]

I am fairly sure the only thing thats essential are:
Alcohol strength in ABV or alc/vol etc
Best Before date (doesn't have to be on the label but needs to be there)
If it contains any allergens, so in most cases contains barley or contains barley and wheat (if it does) also if it contains sulphites.
Also has to be clearly traceable to who made it, ie normally made by X Brewery followed by an address but a full address may not be essential.
The alcohol content in units and the drinking while pregnant warning are currently voluntary in the UK but are essential in other EU countries.
I have no idea if bar codes are needed but they will help you sell them to many outlets.
Other than these it must be labeled in a way that it is clearly a beer & there are things you cannot have on it like health claims or misleading information.

Hope this helps and am interested in how you get on.

[stuey]

I am fairly sure the only thing thats essential are:
Alcohol strength in ABV or alc/vol etc
Best Before date (doesn't have to be on the label but needs to be there)
If it contains any allergens, so in most cases contains barley or contains barley and wheat (if it does) also if it contains sulphites.
Also has to be clearly traceable to who made it, ie normally made by X Brewery followed by an address but a full address may not be essential.
The alcohol content in units and the drinking while pregnant warning are currently voluntary in the UK but are essential in other EU countries.
I have no idea if bar codes are needed but they will help you sell them to many outlets.
Other than these it must be labeled in a way that it is clearly a beer & there are things you cannot have on it like health claims or misleading information.

Hope this helps and am interested in how you get on.

You missed a key one....

Net content in mls.

In addition you must have a "legal name" of the beer... Not necessarily "Bobs Bitter" but more of a description like "A lightly hopped, golden bitter" or something along those lines.

Type size is critical too..

The letter x must be no less than 1.2mm in certain phrases on the bottle label.

Allergens must be in bold.

Abv must be expressed in a certain way (depends on the officer as to what they want).

Certain information must be in the same field of vision, again the officer will have their own foibles as to what weight they give to this.

Some want the word contents, some want the words Net contents.

Best before can be expressed either best before end and show a month and year or can be best before and show a day, month, year. Again depends on your officer.

Some officers require a batch number, some are ok as long as you demonstrate an ability to trace back to raw ingredient batch numbers from the best before date.

As I have said already, different officers have different focuses and different ways of interpreting the documents.

A phonecall followed by emailing the label designs will save you time and potential cost.

[simon12]

Whats "Net content in mls."?
As for allergens being in bold I am not saying your wrong but on the bottles in from of me only the Marston's and Tesco/Greenking ones have it in bold, shepard neame have in siver or gold rather than white & Coopers, Marble beers, Downton brewery, Great Heck Brewing co. & cloud water brew co. don't emphasise it at all and just have contains barley in the same text as all around it.

[Aleman]

Whats "Net content in mls."?
As for allergens being in bold I am not saying your wrong but on the bottles in from of me only the Marston's and Tesco/Greenking ones have it in bold, shepard neame have in siver or gold rather than white & Coopers, Marble beers, Downton brewery, Great Heck Brewing co. & cloud water brew co. don't emphasise it at all and just have contains barley in the same text as all around it.

I think the point Suey is making is that different Trading Standards Officers interpret the guidelines differently

[Jocky]

Whats "Net content in mls."?

Presumably the content of liquid inside the container?

[simon12]

Whats "Net content in mls."?

Presumably the content of liquid inside the container?

Cheers its obvious now you said it.

[stuey]

Whats "Net content in mls."?
As for allergens being in bold I am not saying your wrong but on the bottles in from of me only the Marston's and Tesco/Greenking ones have it in bold, shepard neame have in siver or gold rather than white & Coopers, Marble beers, Downton brewery, Great Heck Brewing co. & cloud water brew co. don't emphasise it at all and just have contains barley in the same text as all around it.

I think the point Suey is making is that different Trading Standards Officers interpret the guidelines differently

Thanks Tony

Simon, I think you have illustrated my point beautifully...
The differences you are seeing in the labelling standards are all due to the interpretation of the guidelines by both the breweries you have listed and the trading standards officers that look after the different areas.

Our officer likes our allergens to be listed in bold as part of the ingredients.

She is very particular about the legal name of the beer.

Etc etc etc.

The previous officer had a different take on it and preferred the Contains phrase.

[Eadweard]

The allergens in bold thing is due to a fairly recent change to the law.

[hambrook]

An update, emailed Hampshire Trading Standards and got a call from a very helpful chap; things I had done right
- ALC in % instead of ABV - required
- Address of Brewery - required
- Volume of beer - required
- Alcohol units - optional

Things I had to modify;
- There has to be a description of the ale underneath the name of the beer in the same type face; I achieved this simply by putting on the back / right panel of the label
- Ingredients is not required but the potential allergen item must now be in bold in an ingredients list
- I had listed local malt and hops but this can not be true on EVERY beer so now is English malt & hops so as not misleading

Hampshire Trading Standards provide 12 months of free advice then it's chargeable. One other note; they do require one bottle to check for the 500ml quantity, that the alcohol content matches the label and that there are no nasty metals in the beer. Oh and the 'e' net symbol after the 500 ml is only needed for export. Here's one of my final labels;

[Secla]

Do you brew from home ?
If so what did you have to put in place to meet the environmental health etc. ? Is it pretty simple on a small scale ?

[stuey]

Glad your officer was helpful.

Interesting about the one year free thing. No time limits here in Derbyshire.

Interesting to compare the interpretations of their guidelines