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As a new company launching its first product to market, Crystal Spirits Distillery of Dayton, OH, wanted a bottle for its Buckeye vodka that would stand out at retail while still reflecting its identity as a small-batch, premium product.
“It’s ultra-pure premium vodka at a midrange price; that’s what makes it unique,” says Jim Finke, co-owner and CEO of Crystal Spirits Distillery. The 80-proof vodka uses distilled water from the Dayton-based Crystal Water Company, owned by Tom Rambasek – Finke’s brother-in-law and Crystal Spirits’ president.
The packaging for the Buckeye bottle was put together by Saxco International, Horsham, PA, a global packager for wine and spirits. Jimmy Owens, new product representative at Saxco, says the shape of the 750 mL bottle was selected from a number of stock molds the company presented to Crystal Spirits. The bottle is Bordeaux-shaped with a flat bottom and was coated with an organic spray frost; the labeling used a UV organic spray print. “The bottle’s very attractive,” Owens says. “The white frost gives it a very contemporary, crisp feeling.” Saxco sourced the bottle itself from Owens-Illinois Europe, and the closure from Amcor, St. Cesaire, Canada.
Saxco handled all sourcing for the packaging, including the 30x60 steel cap, which is a metal roll-on with customized artwork. It features a red buckeye leaf against a blue cap, and the same red leaf is prominently displayed on the bottle, above the letter “k” in “Buckeye.” The rest of the bottle text is in blue, as is an image of the state of Ohio, which has a red, white, and blue ribbon behind it. The text utilizes both print and script writing. “The font is elegant but not overstated, and we put the buckeye leaf on top to show our state pride,” Finke says. “We also used the patriotic theme with the red, white, and blue.” According to Dan Matauch, founder of Flowdesign, which designed bottle’s graphics, limiting the colors to three also kept packaging costs in check.
Buckeye vodka, which still sells only in Ohio, retails at $19.95 for 750 mL, and Finke says the company is planning to release a 1.75-L size early next year. The brand debuted April 1 throughout Ohio, and Finke says sales had already bested the company’s projections by September
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