Another month of federal filings is in the books, bringing a fresh batch of artwork to local shelves (check out our July 2026 report if you missed last month’s lineup). We sift through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) registry so you don’t have to—cutting past the generic filings to highlight the art, data, and design trends driving Illinois craft beer.
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 revealing this month’s standout, take a look at the shortlist of contenders that made the final cut:
August 2026 Winner: Umami by Sketchbook Brewing Co.
Why it won: The use of the name in the beer to depict a beautiful, colorful image on a bright yellow and festive background just catches my eye. The waves in the background of the letter, just cool.
August Numbers at a Glance
| Metric: | August 2026 Stats |
| Total IL Approvals | 37 |
| Labels Curated Below | 26 |
| The VIP (Most Submissions) | Hop Butcher For The World with 5 labels. |
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.
Beyond the top label design, I always keep an eye out for labels with a personal connection. This month, Hop Butcher For The World dropped a label featuring the word Gangway. Growing up, that was standard Chicago vocabulary—my grandparents always called the narrow passage between city homes the ‘gangway.’ Seeing that local nostalgia printed on a can made for an easy favorite highlight.
