What kind of adhesive should I use for a custom beer label?

Thanks for the invite…. :-) I’ll be over around 7.

I’d go with a good spray adhesive, like 3M Super 77. Water-based glues like Elmer’s will make plain paper stock go wavy, and won’t adhere well to non-porous substrates like glass. The Super 77 covers evenly, won’t soak into the paper, dries fast, and sticks to almost anything.

As for removing the old adhesive, a single-edged razor blade is your best bet.

@Harp Spray the paper, correct?

Yep. Lay them face down on a sheet of newspaper and hit them with a light coat of spray. You’ve then got about a minute to position them on the bottle. I just now tried this, by the way, and it works great.

I use hot melt on my labels, The old glue peels off with a knife blade. You may be disappointed by printing your labels on standard stock. As soon as the bottles come out of the refrigerator, condensation will soak through and ruin the appearance. I can’t remember the name of the waterproof paper stock, but they advertise in Zymurgy.

I wonder if Yes Paste would work? It seems to stick anything to anything…

I want Dharma beer.
:(
Or root beer.
I’ll be at your house asap.

I can brew a pretty fair imitation of a Belgian Frambois (Raspberry Lambic), have to use pure liquid culture for each batch. I’ve tried brewing it in oak the traditional way, but the culture goes “off” between batches. Now I’m back to doing it “chem lab” style in sterilized glass and getting good results again. Strong Billys in Portsmouth, NH sells a liquid culture (produced by a local biochemist) that comes as close to Lambic as I’ve tasted outside of Belgium. My private label is “Biere Baggins” with Megs drawing of a pleasantly besotted Hobbit on the label. I had a local printshop make a run of 1,000 waterprrof labels on foil stock. I’ll try to scan one in and post it as an avatar

How’d they turn out?

That 3M Super 77 was amazing.

Ughhhh. They look AMAZING. Bravo!