Artisan distillers are turning to Beatson Clark’s apothecary range of bottles to ensure their product stands out on the shelf. These bottles were originally designed as pharmaceutical containers for medicines and tonics. It is their vintage look and unusual shapes that make them attractive to new craft spirits, giving the brand a distinctive, retro appearance.
The craft spirits sector is booming in the UK. Forty-five more distilleries opened in 2016, taking the total to 273, as consumers develop a taste for small batch, high-quality spirits. Gin is particularly popular as it’s relatively simple to produce and lends itself to a wide variety of flavourings to suit all tastes.
Glass manufacturer Beatson Clark offers both bespoke designs and standard bottles from its general sale range, but its apothecary range is proving especially popular with artisan producers. These bottles were originally designed as pharmaceutical containers for medicines and tonics. It is their vintage look and unusual shapes that make them attractive to new craft spirits, giving the brand a distinctive, retro appearance.
BrewDog was among the first to use Beatson Clark’s pharmaceutical bottles for its LoneWolf gin – they chose Beatson Clark’s 500ml Sloping Shoulder Flat bottle for the prototype gin they launched in April.
Charlotte Taylor, marketing manager at Beatson Clark said:
“Customers often ask us for something different from the traditional bottles in our standard range but without the price tag and minimum volumes of a bespoke design that’s unique to them.
“Our pharmaceutical bottles are proving a popular alternative to the usual shapes on the market, and they look fantastic – very distinctive and appealing.
“Customers can even have these bottles embossed with their own name, logo or design, and the resulting bottle still costs much less than a bespoke container that we’ve designed for them.
“We’ve noticed a trend recently for brands to choose bottles and jars that were originally designed for something else – ready-mixed cocktails in a food jar, for example, or tomato pasta in a beer bottle.
“This latest move by spirits brands using pharmaceutical bottles is just the latest expression of that trend, and it’s one that can be extremely effective.”
The value of gin sales alone has increased significantly in the UK over recent years, according to accountants UHY Hacker Young. Sales surpassed £1 billion in 2016 and are expected to rise to £1.37 billion by 2020 as gin enjoys a renaissance among consumers.
Notes
- Beatson Clark is the UK’s only manufacturer of pharmaceutical glass bottles and jars and holds a wide range of shapes and sizes to suit customers’ requirements. The range includes Winchesters, Tablet bottles and jars, Alpha Sirops and Sloping Shoulder Flats with a variety of neck finishes. Most can be produced in either white flint or amber glass and several are available from stock.
- Beatson Clark specialises in providing glass packaging solutions for niche brands in the food, drink and pharmaceutical markets worldwide. The key to its success has been flexibility, innovation and the high quality of its containers
- Beatson Clark has a turnover of £48 million and a production capacity of approximately 520 million units or 145,000 tonnes. It employs approximately 330 people
- it has ISO 9001:2008, BRC/IOP Food Packaging Hygiene Standard and OHSAS 18001:1999 Occupational Health & Safety Standard and its manufacturing capability has an emphasis on flexibility to facilitate short tailored production runs. It has a UK distribution centre located in Rotherham. To find out more about Beatson Clark, please visit www.beatsonclark.co.uk
