Ugliest beer labels in Canada

There is a reason why I am a Cranky Beer Blogger and not a Super Giddy Beer Blogger, I love to be a grouch, complain about the littlest things and say what's on my mind, and judging by my blog, you can easily see that!

I was looking through a closet in the building I live in, and there was a 6-pack of retro bottles and cans from the 80s and 90s. Beer labels in the 80s were fairly straight forward, the beer name and logo, nothing eye catchy, but you knew exactly what you were drinking.

Now days, every few years brands go through large image changes every 4 or 5 years, which consists of an entirely different logo, a campaign to attract a different clientèle and hope that it works. Sometimes, it works too well.

Sometimes, the beer companies fail miserably and make the product look worse than it did before. Hey, every one of us who drinks beer can get behind a certain brand. Whether you're a beer snob or a person who just wants to have a beer at a barbecue, there's a brand you usually vouch for, and love the taste, the appearance and even the label on the beer bottle.

I've compiled a small list of what I consider to be some of the ugliest beer labels in Canada.


  • Labatt Club. The oldschool Labatt Club label was simple, suit of clubs. Today, if the label was still the same, it would be a hipster's delight. Instead, the label is pretty.. boring, and looks like it came straight out of 1995. 
  • Bud Light. Bud Light changes their labels every few years, and each time, it's a more boring, uglier label than before. Right now it's a blue label, with some grey stripes. There's a random grey thing that looks like a boomerang coming out of water. I have no clue what it's supposed to signify.
  • Molson OV. Another terrible mass produced brew. This beer is mainly drank only by farmers and people in Manitoba.
  • Labatt Lucky Lager. This time, I think people drink the beer just because they know it's that bad.
  • Fort Garry Stone Cold. Like Lucky, people who drink this know that it's a poor quality product. There's nothing about the label that screams out "quality beer!" It also doesn't help that it's available in 2L plastic bottles. Back in the early 00s when I first saw this beer, I thought that the only people who drank this beer were Stone Cold Steve Austin fans, which may actually be true.
  • Labatt Lite/Labatt Blue Light. I have been a fan of the polar bear on the labels since I was a child, but the labels are really dated.
With all that being said, never judge a beer exclusively by a beer label. Then again, the beers I just listed not only have bad labels, but taste pretty bad as well.

4 comments:

Olds College said...

I think Lucky has a CLASSIC label. Horrible beer, great label.

Kinthelt said...

I can think of a few beers that have epic bad labels. But they'd be fairly obscure.

Cody Lobreau said...

@Dale and they were "better" before they were popular? ;) /hipster

Kinthelt said...

I doubt they'd ever be popular. Too much flavour for the masses. ;)

Hipster? Maybe. Beer snob? Definitely.