Every month, the federal government approves a massive wave of new craft beer labels (see our Illinois April 2026 report to catch up). We do the heavy lifting – digging through the dry, clunky database of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) – to pull out the art, the data, and the trends actually worth looking at.
Label of the Month
Each month, I pick a single piece of artwork to stand at the front of the pack. Sometimes a design grabs me immediately; other months, it’s a battle between a few brilliant standouts (or a struggle through a sea of mediocrity). Before we crown the ultimate winner, check out the top candidates fighting for the spot:
May 2026 Winner: Cheap Thrills by Saint Errant Brewing
Why it won: The name of the beer combined with that massive eye and those teeth just instantly made me laugh. After all, great label art doesn’t always need to be deep – sometimes it just needs to be a fun, weird trip.
The May Numbers at a Glance
| Metric | May 2026 Stats |
| Total IL Approvals | 36 |
| Labels Curated Below | 26 |
| The VIP (Most Submissions) | Saint Errant Brewing (6 labels) |
Saint Errant absolutely dominated the compliance queues this month, accounting for nearly a quarter of all curated visual approvals.
A Quick Note on the Curation: You won’t find keg collars or generic text-only labels here. In fact, we skip the boring industrial stuff and double-ups to focus strictly on the bottles and cans you’ll actually see in your hand or on the shelves.
The Lineup: New Approvals
