Packaging materials for Labrot & Graham’s Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select premium bourbon whiskey are designed to help create a simple yet elegant look that allows maximum visibility of the colorful liquor through the clear glass bottles.
All four bottles—375-, 700-, 750-mL and 1-L sizes—are thick and flask-shaped with rounded shoulders. “They have a family look about them,” says Dave Scheurich, Labrot & Graham’s Versailles, KY, plant manager and master distiller.
The flint glass bottles are sourced from Anchor Glass Container’s (Tampa, FL) Lawrenceburg, IN, plant. They’re made by the blow-and-blow process from proprietary molds. Anchor places bottles into reshipper cases and ships them to Chattanooga Labeling Systems (Chattanooga, TN) for applied ceramic labeling. The “antique white” molten glass used for the ACL process “fires-in” the brand name on the bottle’s front panel, just below an LG logo that’s blown into the glass at Anchor. CLS reships the ACL-decorated bottles to Labrot & Graham’s Versailles plant in the same corrugated cases.
All pressure-sensitive labels are converted by MPI Label Systems (Sebring, OH). The labels “are tiny by design because we wanted this package to look simple and let consumers see the beautiful reddish-amber color of the bourbon,” explains Scheurich. Label placement also ensures good visibility of the bourbon. The front- and back-panel labels, for example, measure approximately 2 ¾” W x ¾” H.
The strip stamp label over the cork provides tamper evidence, while the unprinted neck label wraps around the bottom two edges of the strip stamp label. The side label contains a government warning and bar code. The front label identifies the product, provides a batch and a sequential bottle number, volume, proof and alcohol content. It also includes copy about the barrels used to make the product. The back label provides information concerning the distiller’s heritage.
All five paper labels are flexo-printed in three to five colors. They’re sold through MPI distributor Heritage Graphics (Louisville, KY).
Topping the bottle is an attractive dark wood/cork closure embossed with an “LG” logo. The closure combination is imported from Portugal.
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