Imagine your favorite high-end whiskey or other luxury liquor. The bottle is elaborate and glossy, but clunky. Heavy bottles and glasses have long been an indication of costly and exclusive spirits – until now.
Diageo, the London-based spirits giant that owns greater than 200 brands, on Friday revealed the “lightest glass whisky bottle in the world,” a 70-centiliter Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ultra. The company’s previous Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottles weigh 850 grams without liquid and cap, but this bottle weighs almost five times less at just 180 grams, said Jeremy Lindley, Diageo’s global design director, AssetsFor comparison, typical whiskey bottles weigh between 400 and 1,000 grams, he said.
“We didn’t know what we would achieve when we set out to push the boundaries of luxury,” said Jennifer English, global brand director of Johnnie Walker, in a press release. “The result is something many thought was not possible.”
Part of the corporate’s mission in producing lighter bottles is to cut back CO2 emissions. The weight reduction depends upon the project and product, but studies have shown that each gram of glass saved means greater than half a gram less CO2 emissions in production, in keeping with a Decarbonisation plan for the UK glass manufacturing sector by 2050In addition, costs might be reduced by reducing CO2 emissions.
Photo courtesy of Diageo
“The transformation required to reduce CO2 emissions is a challenge at all levels and for all stakeholders, but also offers new opportunities for cost savings and growth,” says a Deloitte study 2022 in Europe.
Although it isn’t a “new idea” to supply more environmentally friendly packaging for drinks, “more luxury alcohol brands are just now getting into it”, Andy KeenanExecutive Vice President and General Manager of Brand and Retail Consulting Advantage solutionstold Assets.
“As consumers have become more environmentally conscious, they want companies to produce less waste. This has quickly become the norm,” Keenan said. “Eventually, all brands will follow suit and switch to lighter glass bottles.”
What Diageo’s bottling means for the alcohol industry
In addition, Diageo is demonstrating its leadership within the spirits industry by developing more efficient packaging, starting with Johnnie Walker.
“Over the course of its five years of research, Johnnie Walker was granted a UK patent. To encourage further progress in the industry – and in a first for Diageo – a license to the patent is being offered royalty-free to anyone in the world who wishes to share in these discoveries,” said Lindley.
Photo courtesy of Diageo
Diageo is starting relatively small, though. Only 888 bottles of this special Johnnie Walker shall be produced, with a limited number set to go on sale in select markets worldwide in 2025, the corporate said in a press release. And these limited-edition bottles include a staggering price tag: greater than $1,100. Other Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottles might be had for a fraction of the worth, typically around $200 to $300 each.
If the brand new bottle is the “technological breakthrough” Diageo claims, why aren’t the bottles mass produced? The spirits giant would should “completely redesign glass manufacturing to accommodate the delicate nature of the bottle in production, bottling and transportation,” Lindley said.
Photo courtesy of Diageo
And that is a “cross-industry challenge,” he added. But we are able to expect Diageo to proceed to innovate its bottlemaking processes.
Although Diageo has not confirmed the long run release of additional lightweight bottles, Lindley said: “We are applying our lightweighting learnings to a wide range of other Diageo projects.”
Whisky connoisseur Chris Walster He said he noticed other whisky distilleries implementing similar practices, including the renowned Bruichladdich Distillery, founded in 1881.
“Whisky is often sold based on the history of the brand, but sustainability is actually seen as a marketing tool for all distilleries,” said Walster, with Johnnie Walker being around for greater than 200 years. “They are all trying to reduce their packaging weight, the sustainability of the packaging and their overall environmental footprint. The fact that [Diageo] Now [has] The lightest bottle shows what is possible and other distilleries will naturally follow as they are already aware of their environmental impact.”
