Single-serve cocktails get 'cool' custom PET bottles

United Distillers & Vintners (UDV-Stamford, CT) now is packaging TGI Friday's On the Rocks single-serve cocktails in 200-ml PET bottles supplied by Schmalbach-Lubeca (Manchester, MI). The single-serve version of the ready-to-drink cocktails (with liquor already included) previously had been packed in 200-ml glass bottles. The line includes seven cocktail varieties: Long Island Iced Tea, Margarita, Mud Slide, Pina Colada, Strawberry Daiquiri, White Russian, and Censored on the Beach.

Christina Catalano, UDV packaging design director, noted, "We were in the process of redesigning our full TGI Friday's Cocktails line and decided that we wanted to enhance the convenience and portability of our single-serve size by converting to PET. Our goal was to achieve a proprietary and appetizing look."

The previously used glass bottles had featured vertical fluting, but UDV wanted the new PET bottles to simulate a textured look that resembled pieces of ice. Larry Reed, director of custom liquor sales for Schmalbach-Lubeca, said, "The only way to replicate the random ice cube pieces was to hand-etch each ice cube shape onto the mold surface. This was followed by a gentler form of sand blasting—referred to as bead blasting—to smooth out the lines in between the cuts."

UDV also wanted the new bottles to have a solid, glass-like feel. So Schmalbach-Lubeca chose a 30-gram preform which delivered solid wall thickness, while still providing blow-molding process efficiency.

Setting up an efficient labeling line for the new bottles presented a special challenge. Three labels—front, back and neck—are applied to each small bottle. The front and back labels are applied in recessed, "ice-free" areas of the container surface. Proper bottle indexing and orientation are crucial to precision label placement.

Dick Blanchard, UDV's director of brand change technical support, worked with Schmalbach-Lubeca and the manufacturer of the cold glue labeler-- Krones Inc. (Franklin, WI)--to create a suitable bottle indexing mechanism. Blanchard and the engineering team designed an "intravenous slot" (or notch) cut into a small section of the bottle sidewall where the wall meets the base. This design formed well in the blowing process and functioned well to index the bottles through the Krones labeler.

The new 200-ml bottles, filled by UDV's co-packer, present a uniquely attractive look with precision label placement, have a solid feel, and are highly portable and consumer-convenient. All the packaging objectives were accomplished.

For more info about custom PET bottles: Shelley Steele, Schmalbach-Lubeca. Tel: 734-428-4515; Fax: 734-428-4622.

UDV North America, Inc. and Guinness Bass Import Company are the spirits, wine and beer divisions of Diageo plc in the U.S. and Canada. For more info: www.diageo.com.

Edited by Judy Rice,
Managing Editor, Beverage Online