container

Slowly but surely, more “functional packages” are coming to town. I don’t mean packages that serve the function of storing booze, or acting as a paperweight or a vase. I mean packages that do something beyond that; beyond what is traditional; beyond moving the beverage from producer to consumer and making it look good. Ty-Ku is a simple example. It’s a pretty bottle, and it lights up when lifted. This video shows the bottle in action. In the days to come, we should be able to come up with a few other examples, including some that go a bit further down this road. If you know of others, please let us know.

Good idea. A 38 proof spirit in a ReddiWhip can. Somebody should have done it a long time ago. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that:

two Atlanta inventors are getting ready to release a product they think will forever change the world of silly cocktails as we know it. … So original and so potentially game-changing is this creamy newcomer that the inventors had to invent a word for it. … It is a beautiful word, a portmanteau of the highest order, and it tells you all you need to know: Whipahol!

Because of a state law that prevents bars from selling liquor from containers smaller than 750 ml, the Whipped Lightning boys have yet to get a Georgia distributor. So they’re beginning with distribution deals in neighboring states and are working toward getting a Georgia waiver.

Maple Grove Products … is the only producer of distilled spirits in the state of Georgia, according to David Dyal at the Georgia Department of Revenue.

This is what happens you combine alcohol, cream, a lawyer, and Devo (“It’s not too late. To whip it. Whip it good.”). November 30, 2010 Update:  here is a good CNBC clip on Whipahol, from yesterday. It is hard to believe that this light and frothy...

This may look like just another ready-to-drink spirit but there is quite a lot going on here.

1. It is two products on one label approval form. Box 19 (of the approval linked above) carefully notes “there are two pre-import letters associated with this product.”
2. It is important to sell these in a four-pack because each cup is only 25 ml. TTB does not allow 25 ml. for spirits. When four are joined together, as here, it conforms to the 100 ml. “standard of fill.” These standard of fill rules have been important to TTB for many decades. TTB calls this aggregate packaging.
3. To reinforce the aggregation, it is helpful to say NOT FOR INDIVIDUAL SALE.
4. Because they are tiny, it is helpful to state NOT FOR CHILDREN. This can help avoid the shame of a Liquid Lunchables designation.
5. It is important to put some labeling on the outer pack and some on the inner pack.

The origin (New Zealand) is also a bit unusual for spirits. There are a great many products in the Twistee Shots line, imported by Smart Beverage of Louisville, Kentucky.