British Glass members Allied Glass and Guala Closures have partnered with Edrington and JC Ribeiro to create a unique and innovative natural cork stopper that has never before been applied to spirit beverages.
The invention has been coined 'TorQ' due to the natural cork closure, requiring a slight twist to release from the bottle. This innovative glass closure has the potential to produce significant benefits for the spirits industry.
Traditional cork stopper limitations
The most premium way of sealing a bottle is to use a cork stopper. This closure is widely recognised and typically used within these products. However, this traditional closure can cause significant problems in markets with a hot climate or where journeys through an extended supply chain can include challenging environments en route.
A warmer environment heats the whisky causing it to expand and compress the headspace above the liquid. This can result in leakage, failure of the stopper, damage to the packaging or in an extreme case, the stopper can be expelled explosively, destroying the capsule. Sometimes this damage can be invisible until the point of sale or consumption which can damage brand reputation.
The recent partnership has seen a development of a creative solution to the failure standard cork mouth closures to address the issues of failure in hot climates.
TorQ
The innovated TorQ closure looks no different to a standard cork closure. This means that there is no loss of quality perception to the product on the shelf. However, both the glass finish and the closure are threaded so a small twist upon the closure application secures the cork and the threads prevent any upwards creep or movement.
The consumer intuitively twists a cork when they remove it from the bottle so this ingenious solution uses this natural instinct to solve an industry-wide issue.
Many consumers who attempt to lever a cork stopper from the bore with their thumbs can break the cork, a relatively common complaint from customers in any market. The TorQ has an additional benefit which requires the consumer to twist the closure to remove it and the developers expect that the number of complaints to significantly reduce as a result of this innovation.
Glenrothes Single Highland Malt Whisky are using the TorQ closure at normal application speeds and thousands of cases have already been shipped to customers around the world with confidence that the product will arrive in pristine condition.
Notes
- Allied Glass is an independently owned premium glass bottle manufacturer. They design, develop and manufacture luxury glass packaging. The companys aim is to be a supplier of inspirational bespoke glass packaging that is available to the entire spirits industry. They have produced beautiful glass bottles for a range of iconic international brands whilst also supporting the very smallest craft producers of whiskey and gin.
- For more information please visit www.allied-glass.com
