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2024 LDA NZ

VIRTUAL GALLERY

The GABS Label Design Awards presented by Orora, is back for the fifth consecutive year! New Zealand’s digital can art gallery boasts beautifully curated works with  something to suit all artistic tastes. Grab yourself a cold beer and take your time as you scroll through these eye-catching designs (listed in alphabetical order) featured in our virtual gallery below. 

TOP 10!

Abandoned Brewery

Hazy 17

Aaron McKirdy

Honestly, it’s really hard work coming up with a uniquely engaging label time and time again. And THEN, just to add insult to injury, you’re asked to write about the “design inspiration”. But who actually cares? No avid beer drinker wants to read the pretentious ramblings of some marketing design wanker. We put a busted up toilet on our can. Why? Well, we could say it’s a lame “decent piss” pun — haha do ya get it? DO YA!? But truthfully, we did it cos we could. And nobody else would. NEVER SAY DIE.

Alibi Brewery

Ruru - Hazy Pale Ale

Logan Gubb

b.effect Brewing Co

Hut People Stout

Lisa Nicole-Moes

The Southern alps are famous for their epic backcountry huts. We have used that as the inspiration for our Hut People stout. Whether you’re a hut person or not this straight up delicious stout will fill your boots after your next mission!

Bach Brewing

MALIBRU California IPA

Donovan Bixley

Develop a California IPA style, and reinforce with imagery of Malibu longboard surfing, NZ style.

Beers by Bacon Bros

Cashmere

Tom Graham

The swirls represent continuousness of this great style and low abv. Hand drawn with wacky colours to make it less perfect and more eye catching.

Behemoth Brewing Company

Victory at Churly's Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter

Nick Lurman

Behemoth is a very fun brand that offers a load of freedom when it comes to expressing itself. So, we could lean into Ballast Points distinctive use of skeletons, pirates and highly detailed artwork on this design to help amalgamate these 2 brands together almost seemlessly. The main inspiration pulled from Victory at Sea which was a part of the blend which.

Being able to reimagine a completely different art style than we usually use, and to just go a little crazy with depicting Churly as a zombie skeleton pirate captain. We also wanted to include the use of gold foil like effects in the label as this was a limited decadent beer to further elevate the design.

Brothers Beer

Saison D’être - Belgian Saison

Helena Olsen-Arts

The design was inspired by a quest for a true raison d’être—a Saison D’être.
It nods to traditional Belgian beer labels, capturing the charm of a Belgian farm and the golden fields that produce the grains used in our brew. The label pays homage to the authenticity and tradition that define Belgian beers.

Burkes Brewing Co

Seven Day Weekend Apres Lager

Alesha Plew

Bright bold, design that is fun and brings cheer to peoples days on the slopes or at the bar.

Canyon Brewing

Be Here Now - Hazy Pale Ale

Mikaela Turner

ChinChiller Brewing

Devils Punch Bowl - Hazy IPA

Simon Courtney

Eddyline Brewery

Eddyline Brewery Midnight Harvest Fresh Hop Black IPA

Lauren Turner

Emerson's Brewery

Emerson's Wilding NZ Farmhouse Ale

Luke Johnson

Garage Project

Hazy Pernicious Weed

Tim Gibson

The goal was to take the popular Pernicious Weed artwork, and B-movie-inspired story and spin it in a new, hazier, direction, like a Hammer-Horror movie sequel featuring the iconic threat of massive hop monsters, but with enough new elements and excitement to attract an audience of old and new friends. The over-the-top artwork reflects Garage Projects long-standing approach to ‘punchy art’ and pop culture awareness, while also giving drinking a clue as to the experience of the liquid inside the can.

Hallertau Brewery

Hallertau Haterade 2024

Ryan Henderson

Inspriration was the lightening bolt from the label which turned into a David Bowie / Bad Brains style iconic bolt across the can in metallic gold that you cannot miss. The colours really pop for us and it the beer stands out from our other range of beers which are of a more simple design. The beer is bold and different from the the rest of our range and the design really reflects that.

Heyday Beer Co

Galactic Grounds Dirty Chai Latte Stout 6.9%

Hannah Blackwood

Hop Federation

Hold the Line NZIPA

Evan Matthews

The idea of ‘escapism’ for the audience weighed heavily in the design process whilst ensuring that the brand icon of the hop was still the singular focus. The audience literally must view the beer through the icon of the hop. The connection to the New Zealand bush pays homage to the very essence of being present to the land and the gifts it provides. Hold the Line is just this — a moment of reflection. This also served us well for creating strong digital assets.

Isthmus Brewing

Pineapple and Lime Sour

Dave Quinlan

Bold and bright colours, containing images of the fruit, minimal writing, metallic writing, able to be used as part of a series of releases so there can be multiple iterations with the same general design but different fruit and different colourway.

Morepork brewing

Whirlpool Hops West Coast IPA

Troy Collier

Creative Imagination while Brewing on the Grainfather , inspired by the Ingredients and the process of a whirlpool.

Morningcider

Cider Sangria

Louise Giles

Bright, fun, beautiful, like the cider

North End Brewing

Evolutas 3 Year Aged Wild Ale

Alex Brimmicombe

This brew has an amazing story to bring it to fruition. Three years barrel aged and spontaneously fermented by microbes found in the air on Kāpiti Island. It’s created a beer that’s a true experience to drink. Such a brew is very true to our way of taking traditional styles and bringing them to life with a modern touch. The can reflects this by focusing around sharp geometric matte metallic gold line-work and fonts, which encapsulates our contrasting hand drawn graphic. This graphic depicts the traditional pitchfork and barley reflecting the beers origins, intertwined with the swirling Kāpiti winds bringing microbes through the air.

Small Gods

Hexenhaus

Luke White

While thinking about what we could call our traditional Roggenbier I recalled good times in an old tavern named the Hexenhaus in the Alps. German for ‘witches house’, the Hexenhaus was a tavern filled with occult trappings and artefacts along with a couple of goats. A naive approach with a nod to medieval woodcuts seemed appropriate for my vision of a small witches house in an eerie forest of dead trees. The Kraft paper stock was carefully chosen as the closest thing I could get to goatskin parchment and a lot of thought went into finding the perfect typeface to communicate our story.

Sprig + Fern Brewing Co.

The G.O.A.T Doppelbock

Corey Harbrow

The G.O.A.T Doppelbock is Sprig + Fern’s most awarded beer, and as such we felt it deserved a design that better reflected it’s status as a multi-award-winning, premium quality product. In keeping with the ‘bock’ theme (German for goat), and the moniker of G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time), a bock head sits front and centre in a style inspired by the dark characters of Guillermo del Toro movies, with an air of mysticism and intrigue. The fonts selected reflect those of American bank notes, while the subdued colour palette of black, bronze and gold – complete with vintage embellishments, sparkles, crown and ‘multi award winning’ gold badge – tie together to form a cohesive concept and solidify the premium, luxury look and feel.

SUNSHINE BREWERY

Sonic the hop hog

Kahu Jakicevich

The hog, cleverly designed to evoke Sonic’s spirit, zooms through emerald fields of fresh hops, leaving trails of flavor in its wake. The bright, electric greens and deep blues on the label mirror the refreshing and bold taste of the brew inside, promising a nostalgic yet invigorating experience. Whether you’re a gaming enthusiast or a hophead, this limited-edition beer is your ticket to a taste of classic gaming culture with a Sunshine Brewery twist.

Swifty

Swifty - Refreshing Beer

Amanda Gaskin

Swifty is a collaboration between Royalburn Station and Garage Project – celebrating a farmer and a brewer teaming up to create a high quality yet simple refreshing beer. The design is a throw back to classic draught beers, and to pay homage to Central Otago and the Crown Terrace where the Royalburn spray free malt is grown. Swifty is a beer for everyone and we wanted the design to reflect that. It’s straight up, does what it says on the tin and is making us thirsty even just thinking about it. You beauty!

Two Thumb Brewing

SNAKE - WCIPA

Paris Tutty

Throw back a throwback. 
1996

Urbanaut Brewing Co

NEW WAVE 01 KENORA HAZY IPA

Pablo Espinosa

Volstead Brewing Co

Fools Gold

Jason Ray

West Coast IPA is the beer style and the West Coast of New Zealand has a rich history of gold mining, so it’s a play on that, as well as the idea of liquid gold to reflect the beer colour.

Waitoa Beer

Jellydrop 0% Sour

Mike Peters

The inspiration behind the Jellydrop 0% Sour design blends multiple elements to capture its essence. The name Waitoa, meaning “bold water,” guided us to incorporate themes of water and playfulness. Reflecting New Zealand’s active outdoor lifestyle, we aimed for a design that feels both refreshing and vibrant. The flavors of raspberry and pineapple, reminiscent of icy summer treats, influenced our choice of bright, sunny colors and dynamic patterns. To evoke a sense of fun and curiosity, we used the jellyfish motif, symbolizing the beer’s playful and refreshing nature while hinting at its unique character. Overall, the design captures a beachy, sunlit vibe, ensuring the Jellydrop stands out with its bold personality and clear 0% alcohol content.

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