By Diane Silcock
THE seventh annual Beer Label Design Awards for 2024 saw the craft beer brand Cape Collective coming up trumps.
The awards, convened by Winemag.co.za, which include wine and beer, are sponsored by self-adhesive label supplier Rotolabel who has been associated with the initiative since inception, with secondary sponsors being Avery Dennison, Synchron and Kemtek|HP Indigo.
Beer and wine marketer, Dane Raath and designer, Janneman Solms – co-founders of Cape Collective – seem to have found the perfect combination in working with Saggy Stone Brewing Co. to produce not only award-winning beer, but award-winning label designs too. Besides Cape Collective, Dane is also part of the Bomb Squad beer team having introduced Steven Kitshoff and Malcolm Marx, to both Saggy Stone and Janneman Solms. This has culminated in wins all round.
The awards took place in Cape Town on 27 November 2024 and the Cape Collective series designed by Janneman received the Gold award in the beer as a series category and the ultimate Grand Prix award. Added to this, Cape Collective also won the People’s Choice award for beer.
Bomb Squad Pilsner, produced by Saggy Stone Brewing Co. and designed by Janneman, won Gold in the single label category.
“Our win is one for the books for Cape Collective,” enthused Dane. “Janneman blew everyone away with his incredible creations and we are very proud of our achievements. We extend our thanks to Winemag.co.za for hosting such an amazing event, and, of course, a big thank you to Saggy Stone for believing in us and backing all our beer projects.”
“When life handed us a 2020 lockdown,” says Janneman, “Dane and I with our few decades of wine industry connections, collaborated, exporting wine and then teaming up with Saggy Stone to whip up our Cape Collective ‘palate cleansing’ beers. Design is my passion, as is good wine and beer, and I’m elated with the outcome of the awards. It’s a great feeling to see how far our brand has come.”
Beers were judged in two categories: single labels and labels forming a series. Judging criteria included originality of concept, execution, shelf appeal and effectiveness as a piece of communication. Criteria included beer having to be produced in South Africa and being commercially available while the minimum stock requirement was 50 six-bottle cases for beer.
According to Winemag.co.za, the motivation for the competition is to reward outstanding design as an influence on wine and beer purchases and all South African wine and beer producers ,as well as giving design studios the opportunity to enter.
