The voting has ended and Cannery Brewing has been named the winner of the Best Label Competition presented by Westkey for the Great Okanagan Beer Festival (GOBF).

The Cannery took first place with their label for their Sunblink Berry Sour brew, which was designed by Skyler Punnet and Paul Higgins with Super Deluxe Creative. Punnett said the label is a throwback to another label the two designed for the brewery’s first, limited release sour, Rain Shadow.

READ ALSO: Cannery Brewing ahead in round two of Best Label Competition

“The whole idea is (this label) was supposed to be related to the Rain Shadow sour that we did around this time last year,” said Punnett. “This is the next iteration since it’s sort of the same beer with berries added to it. So with the Rain Shadow, it was the whole idea that Penticton exists in one and the idea of the sun parting the clouds and it was a fresh, floral beer.

“So for (Sunblink), it’s the idea that the sun has come fully out, so it’s warm and radiating and that was the whole idea behind the name. And the imagery for both (beers) involve hummingbirds.”

Punnett didn’t want to take the full credit for the label winning in the competition, stating that the Cannery has a great group of supporters that rallied hard to see the brewery come out victorious. He appreciates that this type of competition draws attention to a less-discussed area of the industry.

“For me, it’s more about the sense of support that the Cannery has gotten and the fact that they have that many people willing to jump online to support them,” said Punnett. “From the design perspective, it would be nice if it would spark an intelligent conversation about design, and the importance of good design and illustration on beer labels.”

The contest was held through online polls on Facebook and the local label first went up against Vancouver Island Brewing’s Magic Hour Grapefruit Gose, then it round two it beat out Vice & Virtue Brewing’s Homewrecker. Finally, Sunblink narrowily beat Twin Sails Brewing’s Dead Sea label to take the title of Best Label with 51 per cent of the 2,900 votes.

READ ALSO: Cannery’s Sunblink Berry Sour label in final round of Best Label Competition

“The craft beer world has a lot of camaraderie. This kind of competition was really fun, especially against Twin Sails who we love,” said Lawton. “Their team rallied really hard on their part and so for us, it’s not about beating breweries or winning, but about showcasing the craft beer world and the artists that made their labels.”

Lawton said the team at Cannery Brewing is overjoyed to have the support of craft brew lovers in the area, and said the brewery won a gift card to the Train Station Pub, the sponsor of the GOBF, that they intend to make use of when they are there as a participating brewery.

“We just want to say thanks to everyone who really rallied to support us, we had so many people sharing (the poll) and asking people to vote, so we’re very happy about that,” Lawton. “And it’s so wonderful to showcase a local artist from Penticton on the labels that we’re doing, and to have them go on to win something like this is very exciting.”

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