Blue Ice Vodka Bottle Reaches New Heights

Flowdesign kept the 1.75-L bottle's depth under 3.5" for easy gripping. In addition to widening the bottle, the neck was shortened to meet shelf height restrictions.

08/09/06 When Distilled Resources Inc., Rigby, ID, added 1-L and 1.75-L bottles to its Blue Ice Vodka line in June, the company wanted to maintain brand consistency and retail shelf height limits.

To ensure that the 1.75-L bottle shared shelf space with its 1-L, 750-mL and 50-mL counterparts, the bottle height had to be kept below 13".

The bottles are supplied by Saxco-Demptos and designed by Flowdesign Inc. "We wanted to keep the bottles as proportionate as possible and maintain the icicle look," says Dan Matauch, principle, Flowdesign.

Rather than adding a handle, Flowdesign kept the 1.75-L bottle's depth under 3.5" for easy gripping. In addition to widening the bottle, the neck was shortened to meet shelf height restrictions. The 1.75-L bottle also required a larger 36-mm Pechiney skirted Stelvin roll-on pilfer-proof screw cap. The l-L bottle sports a 31.5-mm Stelvin cap, which is the same cap used for the 750-mL bottle.

Gray Ottly, owner of Distilled Rosources, says that the introduction of the 1.75-L bottle was "the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back." The company had been using a monobloc rinser, filler, and capper for a variety of custom bottles; however, the rotary filler could not accommodate the new 1.75-L bottles: "They were so large they didn't fit around the starwheel," he says. The company invested in a Kaps-All in-line filler, which proved more versatile and accommodated all of the bottles in the Blue Ice Vodka line, as well as about 20 additional brands.

According to Kevin Egan, Distilled Resources' director of sales and marketing, adding two new sizes to the Blue Ice Vodka portfolio has enabled the company to gain distribution in several more states and completed one more step in its plan for national distribution.