Another Packaging Award for Aluminum Bottles

Fusion Aluminum Bottle

The aluminum bottle used by the folks at Canella Wine has won another award for Best Packaging at the 2011 Beverage Innovation Functional Drinks Awards in Washington, D.C. This time, it was for the OCÓO Beauty Drink which is supposedly made from red “power” berries.

I have no idea what a power berry is but the OCÓO design is certainly powerful.

I wanted to point out a very powerful statistic – this Ocoo bottle is only 10% of the weight of a comparable glass bottle!

It is the perfect RTD package – easily transported, easily handled, easily disposed and 100% recyclable.

I am especially impressed by the bottle decoration. I’ve already posted about several very artistic designs ranging from the Mountain Dew aluminum bottles series to the designer aluminum Coke bottles of Karl Lagerfeld. The Ocoo bottle is now one of my favorites.

Bellini Aluminum Bottle

Bellini Aluminum Bottle

It appears that the Bellini aluminum bottle with the peach-colored design actually won the Oscar from the Istituto Italiano Imballaggio.

It’s a beautifully designed and decorated bottle, much better than the aluminum gray bottle I showed in my previous post.

I copied the explanation below from the blog of Casa Vinicola Canella for their choice of aluminum:

“So what are the features of the new Bellini aluminum bottle you may ask?

• it is enviromental friendly (aluminium can be endlessly recycled)
• it is unbreakable (it’s perfect for beaches, boats and public gatherings)
• it is light-weight
• thanks to the aluminium bottling , Bellini is protected from light
• the aluminium allows the products to cool off much quicker
• the label doesn’t come off in the ice bucket
• it comes in a 250cl bottle, so it contains 50cl more than a regular glass bottle
• the product is identical to the one in glass i.e. 2 parts of sparkling wine, one part of juice and pulp of real white peaches.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Aluminum Bottle for Bellini

Bellini Aluminum Bottle

I love this new aluminum bottle designed for one of my favorite classic mixed drinks.

The Bellini di Canella is made of Prosecco and white peach – the classic combination originally concocted by Giuseppe Cipriani at the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice.

Bellini Aluminum Bottle

Their aluminum bottle contains 25 ml and supposedly weighs 90 percent lighter than its previous packaging weight!  So freight economics for this bottle must be pretty good.

I have one minor quibble with the decoration of the bottle.  In several previous posts, I highlighted some truly artistic designs such as the Mountain Dew series.

I would have liked the bottle to have the colors of a bellini. I also posted once about my wish to have an aluminum beer bottle that actually looked like a beer. I’ve seen enough designs to convince me that it’s not difficult at all to do.

I actually came across a picture of another aluminum bottle from the company that had the colors of a bellini. Perhaps this is a previous version of this product? They’re both great designs. I just prefer the peach-colored one.

This aluminum bottle will definitely be part of my summer picnic cooler.

Aluminum Bottles – World’s Most Sustainable Beverage Container

Aluminum Association Logo

In its 2010 life cycle analysis (LCA), the Aluminum Association made the bold claim that aluminum is “the world’s most sustainable beverage container.”

You can view the study results yourself here: www.aluminum.org/lca.  The study pointed out the following “green” improvements of the aluminum industry:

• Reduction in overall carbon footprint of the aluminum can by 44 percent
• 30 percent less energy usage
• Reduction in package weight of 15%
• 68 percent total recycled content, the highest of any beverage package material

The study made no comparisons to other packaging materials.  But as I noted in my previous post on weight, the reduction in greenhouse gases due to the lighter weight of aluminum and consequent reduction in transport costs is by itself a very significant comparative advantage vs. most other materials.

I suspect that the combination of environmental-friendly demands made by major corporate buyers like Wal-mart and the superior decorating possibilities of aluminum (read my post on glow in the dark Heineken bottles) will make the aluminum bottle the first choice for packaging.

Aluminum Bottles In Traditional Shapes

Aluminex Aluminum Bottle

Now here’s an aluminum bottle design that’s perfect for beer.

I’ve gotten questions from readers on whether aluminum bottles can be shaped more like “traditional” wine and beer bottles.  To those readers – the wait is over.

CCL has released two aluminum bottle designs that look more like the beer and wine bottles you find in retail shelves. Their “Roadhouse,” design is a longneck bottle which comes in 12 oz and 16 oz sizes with crown and 28mm threaded finishes.  Another design, the “Tailgater,” has a more fully-contoured body and can have a variety of bottle finishes, including crown,  38mm threaded and 38mm lug finishes.

My gut feel is these aluminum beer bottles will have even better market acceptance.

I love some of the artsy designs I’ve seen lately.  But there’s something very appealing and comforting when you hold a bottle that is shaped like most many other beverages.  I’ve never been a fan of some of the clunkier aluminum bottle designs with no necks, which reminded me of WD-40.

This retro design, combined with aluminum’s ability to cool faster will make it appealing to many beverage producers.

Aluminum Perfume Bottles By Montale

Montale Aluminum Perfume Bottle

The aluminum bottles for Montale perfumes contain ingredients that are 1.5 times the price of gold.

The perfumes are made of precious woods such as frankincense, balsam, cedar, and amber, which have been used for thousands of years.  In particular, Montale uses a resin from the Aoud tree, said to be the favorite of Arabian royalty.  It’s this essence that is almost twice the price of gold.  For those of you aren’t following the gold market, it is currently selling at over $1,500 an ounce!  So I guess aoud essence is selling at $2,250 per ounce 😮

Montale uses these materials in large concentrations for its perfumes, which makes them very long lasting, not to mention very expensive.  The aluminum bottles were chosen and design to shield the precious contents from light and heat.

Now this aluminum bottle is what I call a collectible.

First Australian Aluminum Bottle

Ardagh Aluminum Bottle

I would have thought the Aussies would be among the first to come out with an aluminum beer bottle.

But even the folks in tiny Faroe Islands beat them to it (see my previous post on this).  Apparently, the The Ardagh Group of Australia has launched its own line of aluminum bottles, which is a first in the Australian market.

Many countries already have aluminum bottles for the Ready-To-Drink (RTD) market which is proving to be an unexpectedly robust market niche, especially for outside events and functions where glass bottles are prohibited.

Now what could be better on a warm summer’s day in Sydney than a tall, cold Foster’s lager in an aluminum bottle?

Guinness Aluminum Beer Bottle

Guinness Aluminum Beer Bottle

Guinness actually does not have an aluminum beer bottle.

But I did come across this really neat design for an aluminum bottle for the venerable English beer by someone named Julien Muller.  You can take a look at his work here.

I like the angular shape which is quite different from most aluminum beer bottle designs which are rounded.  The design is part of a project by Muller called  “Prism, Stripes & Diamond bottles”.

The malleability of aluminum would probably make this non-traditional design feasible.  The Guinness “brand police” would probably not allow any bottle not to have their iconic Guinness logo.  But theirs is a dark logo and would probably blend easily with Muller’s design.

It’s wonderful how aluminum bottles have become the new canvasses  for today’s artists and  designers.

Aluminum Bottle That Glows In The Dark

This is one of the coolest aluminum bottle decoration ideas in a very long time.

We don’t have it here in the USA, but Heineken has a new aluminum beer bottle that glows in the dark! It uses invisible ink that glows when exposed to UV light, revealing a shooting stars design. It actually debuted in Milan a few months ago.

It’s perfect for bars and social clubs.

Love the commercial too 🙂  Why don’t they have it here in the USA?  It’s no doubt a collectible item.

One Liter Aluminum Beer Can

Tuborg Aluminum Bottle

I don’t normally post about aluminum cans but I had to make an exception for this new 1 liter aluminum can of Carlsberg Tuborg Pilsener beer.

That’s a huge aluminum can, compared to what’s available here. This is a 2 piece can rather than a 3 piece tin cans. Technically, this is very interesting. Also, one of the reasons for the switch and for my post is the emphasis on the fact that aluminum is “100 percent and infinitely recyclable without loss of quality”.