Can You Judge A Liquor By Its Bottle? (Excerpt)

Chattanooga Pulse

By Heather Vega

March 9, 2016

Looking at the growing influence of art on the image of alcohol

Have you ever looked at a liquor bottle and had no idea what was inside, but you just had to have it? There is something about the unique curves and design of a bottle or the artistic design of the label that just speaks to you to “Take me home!” (unless, of course, it is the actual words scrolling across the LED screen of the Medea Vodka bottle). In this case, the bottle will most definitely adorn the front row of your liquor cabinet to personally greet your guests as they arrive.

Wineries, breweries, and distilleries have become quite creative when it comes to the design of the vessel and the packaging of their spirits. This creativity has definitely not gone unnoticed, catching the eye of many. So much, in fact, some folks have felt the purchase was justified by the coolness of the bottle alone, having no idea of what to expect regarding the quality of the contents within; but having complete satisfaction of their highly coveted acquisition.

There are collector societies, such as the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, who enjoy sharing their collectibles and knowledge of the ins-and-outs related to the history of booze-bottles. Let us not forget the up-and-coming artists of booze-bottle-chandeliers who pin their latest upcycle projects to the never-ending pages of Pinterest (some of which I have saved in my “Craft Ideas” board).

Evidence of the first winery was discovered in Armenia, dating back to c. 4100 BC. Chemical tests on ancient pottery show that beer could have been produced as far back as 7,000 years ago! However, we definitely know the Ancient Greeks imbibed on mead, a drink made of fermented honey. This goes to show the extent of human’s timeless love for alcohol.

We have had a love affair with booze since the beginning of time and the love will not fade anytime soon. Many throughout history have been compelled to share the love beginning with their skills in home brewing and home-made stills to going large-scale in creating their craft for mass distribution.

19th Century beer bottles were embossed and later adorned with basic labels simply for the purpose of ensuring the bottles made their way back to the brewery as the bottling process was quite costly.

Machine-made bottles were just beginning to be produced in the early 20th Century when a well-known, 13-year blip in history called Prohibition occurred in 1920. Prohibition gave life to bootleggers and speakeasies, but stifled the legal distribution of booze.

Six whiskey producers were allowed to continue to sell whiskey in pints from their surplus for medicinal purposes, which had to be prescribed by doctors (Brown-Forman is the only one of the six still in business today). Certain whiskeys were packaged and labeled for medicinal use with written recommendations by well-known chemists of the time touting the effectiveness of their product.

There are many reasons behind the unique marketing tactics for breweries, distilleries, and wineries. Some are to express the uniqueness of the product, while others are out to catch the unsuspecting eye of the future beholder.

One novel idea which didn’t take off back in the 60’s, but would possibly be welcomed today as we are now more open to the idea of being socially responsible, is the Heineken World Bottle (affectionately called WOBO). The WOBO, designed by architect John Habraken, was an emerald green, square beer bottle with recessed sides that supported and nestled into each other.

Freddy Heineken envisioned that this bottle would help provide the people of Curacao with sustainable, affordable housing with the empty bottles. Unfortunately, his vision was a few decades too early.