Imagine this: You’ve spent months perfecting your spirit – sourcing the finest ingredients, refining your distillation process, and designing a standout bottle. You’re finally ready to hit the market, but then the unexpected happens. Your label gets rejected by the TTB, delaying your launch by weeks. Or worse, your bottles make it onto store shelves, only for retailers to reject restocking because the barcode won’t scan.
Labeling mistakes in the artisanal spirits industry aren’t just frustrating – they’re expensive. From compliance rejections and redesign fees to lost sales and reprints, a single oversight can cost brands tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, many distillers and brand owners underestimate how compliance rules, barcode formatting, and label readability affect their success.
The good news? These mistakes are avoidable. In this post, we’ll walk through the most costly labeling pitfalls in spirits branding and give you practical strategies to ensure your labels meet compliance standards, enhance shelf presence in any account, and help you receive reorders.
Compliance Pitfalls That Can Get Your Artisanal Spirits Brand Rejected (or Fined)
Regulatory compliance is one of the most overlooked aspects of launching a spirits brand. Many distillers focus on crafting a high-quality product but underestimate the complexity of TTB label approval and the strict regulations around marketing claims. The result? Costly delays, forced recalls, or even financial penalties.
Here are two of the most expensive compliance mistakes spirits brands make—and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Submitting a TTB Label Approval (COLA) That’s Destined for Rejection
The Cost of Getting It Wrong: Weeks of delays, missed launch timelines, and potential compliance fines.
The Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) process is mandatory for any spirits brand looking to sell in the U.S., yet many labels get rejected due to simple errors. A rejection means wasted time, reprints, and—if you've already printed packaging—significant financial losses.
How to Avoid It:
- Ensure all mandatory elements are present and formatted correctly. The TTB requires specific information on labels, including:
- Alcohol content (e.g., “Alc. 40% by Vol.”)
- Government warning statement (must follow size, emphasized text, capitalization, and exact wording requirements)
- Net contents in metric (e.g., “750 mL”)
- Producer/importer name & address (must match the importer bringing your product into the U.S.)
- Country of origin (required for imported alcoholic beverages)
- Use the exact required wording. The government warning must appear in the following format, without any modifications:
GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems. - Test your class/type designation against TTB’s recognized categories. Calling a product "Bourbon" when it doesn’t meet aging requirements or labeling a flavored spirit incorrectly can trigger rejection. Use TTB’s Beverage Alcohol Manual (BAM) to confirm your classification before submitting your COLA application.
Getting it right the first time can mean the difference between launching on schedule and costly delays.
Mistake #2: Misleading Label Claims That Violate TTB Regulations
Labeling isn’t just about compliance – it’s also about trust. Consumers, regulators, and even competitors are paying attention to how brands describe their products. Words like "handcrafted" and "small batch" may sound compelling, but if they aren’t backed by verifiable production methods, they can lead to regulatory action, legal challenges, or even a forced recall.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
A misleading label can result in TTB fines, lawsuits, and distribution headaches. If a regulator or competitor challenges a false or exaggerated claim, brands may be required to recall mislabeled products, refund distributors, and cover legal fees. The reputational damage can be even harder to fix—consumers who feel deceived may never return.
How to Avoid It
- Be careful with vague or unverified marketing claims. For example, if you describe your spirit as “handcrafted” or “small batch,” be ready to provide documentation of the process. If you can’t prove it, don’t use it.
- Follow strict age statement regulations. You must follow the age statement requirements for the U.S. for the category you are claiming on the label, and you must also follow any denomination of origin requirements (e.g. Scotch, Tequila, Bourbon, etc.). Disclose natural flavors and coloring agents properly. If your product contains artificial coloring, flavoring, or blending materials, these must be explicitly listed in accordance with 27 CFR regulations. Failure to do so can result in regulatory penalties and even a forced product recall.
Labeling mistakes can delay launches and force brands to pull products off the market, erode consumer trust, and lead to costly reprints.
Retail & Bar Visibility Mistakes That Kill Sales
A great label stands out in a crowded retail environment and remains crisp and intact through the supply chain journey all the way to the consumer’s table. But many brands design their labels based on digital mockups, without testing how they perform in real-world conditions. The result? Products that are hard to spot on a shelf or a dimly lit backbar, or labels that deteriorate before they even reach the consumer.
Here are two of the most common visibility and durability mistakes that can cost brands valuable sales.
Mistake #3: A Label That Looks Great on Screen but Fails in the Real World
A design that looks stunning on a computer screen doesn’t always translate well to a crowded liquor store shelf or dimly lit bar. Fonts that are too small, colors that blend into the background, or designs that lack strong branding can cause consumers to overlook your product entirely—or worse, confuse it with another brand or category (“I mistook that mezcal bottle for a vodka bottle!”)
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
If your product is difficult to identify, it won’t sell. Retailers favor brands that move quickly, and if your label fails to catch the consumer’s eye, it could be relegated to a bottom shelf or removed altogether. On-premise, bartenders might skip over it in favor of bottles that are easier to spot and grab quickly.
How to Avoid It
- Test readability at different distances and lighting conditions. Your brand name should be legible from at least 3 feet away in both dim bar settings and brightly lit retail spaces.
- Ensure high contrast and font size optimization. Avoid light fonts on light backgrounds and overly intricate typefaces that become unreadable at a glance.
- If using multiple SKUs, don’t rely on color-coded differentiation alone. Up to 8% of men are colorblind, meaning they may not be able to distinguish one SKU from another. Use clear typography and labels to differentiate product variations. The brand and SKU name should be the most prominent on the label.
Shelf space is competitive, and if a consumer doesn’t recognize or recall your brand instantly, they’ll move on to the next option.
Mistake #4: Label Adhesives That Fail in Storage & Transit
A label that peels, bubbles, or smudges makes a product look cheap—and retailers take notice. If bottles arrive with damaged or unreadable labels, stores may refuse to stock them, and distributors may reject shipments.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Retailers expect bottles to arrive in pristine condition. A poorly adhered label can make a product look mishandled or low quality, reducing consumer trust. Worse, if key information—like barcodes or regulatory details—becomes unreadable, it can cause issues at checkout or result in non-compliance penalties.
How to Avoid It
- Test label adhesion in extreme storage conditions. Store samples in cold storage (35°F), high heat (100°F), and high humidity environments to see if they hold up.
- Use waterproof label stock for high-exposure environments. If your bottles are likely to be stored in ice buckets, well bars, or humid warehouses, ensure your labels won’t disintegrate.
- Conduct a scratch test to ensure print durability. Rubbing the label with moderate pressure should not cause ink to smudge or text to fade.
Retailers and distributors want products that maintain their quality from production to point of sale. A peeling or unreadable label signals a lack of attention to detail—and that’s not a risk most businesses are willing to take.
Barcode & Logistics Failures That Wreck Distribution
Even if a spirits brand gets its label design and compliance right, barcode and logistics mistakes can still prevent products from reaching customers. A barcode that won’t scan or a missing shipper code can cause costly rework, shipment delays, and lost retail opportunities.
Retailers and distributors rely on accurate barcoding to track inventory, process orders, and ensure seamless checkout experiences. If your product doesn't scan properly – or if shipments are missing key identification codes – your brand risks being actively rejected from stores or warehouses altogether, or worse - accidentally ignored.
Here are two of the most common (and expensive) barcode and logistics mistakes spirits brands make—and how to avoid them.
Mistake #5: A Barcode That Won’t Scan
Barcodes might seem like a minor detail, but they are a critical component of retail operations. If your barcode doesn’t scan correctly, your product can’t be sold, restocked, or tracked efficiently.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
If a barcode is unreadable or incorrectly formatted, retailers may refuse to stock your product altogether. Even worse, if multiple products share duplicate UPCs (a common issue with low-cost barcode resellers), retailers may miscount inventory, leading to lost sales and supply chain headaches.
How to Avoid It
- Use GS1-registered UPCs. Avoid cheap third-party barcode resellers, as they can lead to duplicate barcode issues that cause problems in retail systems. GS1 is the global standard for retail barcodes.
- Print the barcode at a minimum size of 1.2 inches wide and 0.5 inches tall. Barcodes that are too small or distorted due to resizing may not scan properly at checkout.
- Test barcodes on printed prototype labels with multiple scanner types. Ensure scanability with handheld scanners, POS systems, and warehouse inventory scanners before committing to final bulk label printing.
An unreadable barcode can mean thousands in lost sales – and in a worst-case scenario, a recall if labels need to be reprinted.
How to Get It Right the First Time
Labeling mistakes aren’t just a hassle – they’re expensive. A single compliance error, barcode issue, or poor packaging decision can lead to lost sales, delayed product launches, and costly reprints.
By taking the time to get your label right before it goes to print, you can:
- Avoid regulatory headaches by ensuring full TTB compliance.
- Optimize your packaging for retail success, making your product stand out on shelves and in bars.
- Streamline logistics and distribution by using properly formatted barcodes and shipper codes.
Maguey Exchange – in partnership with Cultured Spirits – specializes in helping brands navigate the complexities of spirits labeling, compliance, and packaging. Whether you need a second set of eyes before submitting your COLA application or a full-scale packaging strategy, our experts can help ensure your product is launch-ready.
Don’t leave your label to chance. Download our free guide to The Essential Spirits Labeling, Bottling & Packaging Checklist and take the first step toward getting it right the first time.
This article is a guest contribution from Industry Expert Matt Adkins of Cultured Spirits. Matt has extensive experience in spirits branding, compliance, and packaging, helping distillers navigate the complexities of TTB regulations, retail positioning, and supply chain logistics. With a deep understanding of what it takes to bring a spirits brand to market successfully, Matt specializes in ensuring that labels meet compliance standards, stand out on the shelf, and move seamlessly through distribution.
