The video conversation between Hilary Whitney, Founder of Sacred Distillery, Nolan Kane, Head of Emerging Brands at Verallia Glass, and Olivier Ward of Everglow Spirits provides an insightful look into the journey of brand building, particularly in relation to designing bespoke bottles for gin.
Some context on Sacred Distillery:
Sacred Distillery is a family-run distillery located in Highgate, London, known for its innovative use of vacuum distillation. This unique process, combined with organically sourced botanicals, allows Sacred to craft a range of high-quality spirits, including gin, vodka, whisky, vermouth, and aperitifs.
Their product line includes gins like Sacred Cardamom Gin and Sacred Old Tom Gin, as well as vermouths and liqueurs. As a certified B Corporation, Sacred is committed to sustainability and ethical practices in both production and packaging.
Some context on Verallia Glass:
Verallia is a leading global producer of glass packaging, serving over 10,000 clients in the food and beverage industries. Their focus is on designing, manufacturing, and recycling sustainable glass solutions.
Committed to reducing their environmental impact, Verallia are advancing sustainability through decarbonising activities and investing in innovation, such as their 100% electric furnace. Verallia’s approach supports both aesthetic customisation and eco-conscious production for brands worldwide.
Insights from the conversation:
The evolution of brand identity
Hilary shared how Sacred started in a time when gin was not the saturated category it is today. Early decisions, such as using a tall, slender bottle typically associated with vodka, were practical but not bespoke and initially, Sacred relied heavily on the quality of their liquid and storytelling through their labels.
After 15 years, Sacred Distillery decided it was the right time to develop a custom bottle, mainly to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market. A bespoke bottle not only enhances a brand’s identity but also serves to communicate its story through tactile elements and design features.
For Sacred, the coils at the bottom of their new bottle represent their use of vacuum distillation, aligning the bottle’s design with their innovative production process.
Key takeaway:
Know your brand story and don’t rush into it. If you don’t need to, then hold off. Before investing in custom packaging, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your brand’s identity and values. This will guide your design choices and help ensure that your packaging resonates with your target audience.
Before starting the design process, ensure your brand’s story and ethos are well-defined. Work with a design agency to simplify and align your packaging with that story. Without a clear story, your bottle design may feel disconnected from your brand, leading to confusion for consumers.
Standing out on the shelf
Consumers are buying with their eyes… There’s so much choice. If you’re getting a gift, you’ll buy something attractive, right?
The conversation emphasised the importance of standing out on crowded retail shelves. Custom glass bottles, embossing, and unique shapes have become increasingly common, driven by the need for challenger brands to compete with larger players.
A well-designed bottle can make a brand memorable and help it attract new customers, particularly in transient retail environments where brand loyalty isn’t as strong.
Key takeaway:
Balancing aesthetics and practicality. A custom bottle can elevate your brand, but it’s essential to weigh the costs and logistical challenges. Consider whether bespoke packaging is the right investment for your stage of growth or if off-the-shelf solutions can still effectively tell your story.
Factor in more than the upfront expenditures as the process is expensive and time-consuming. For Sacred, it took about two years of design work, including numerous revisions and collaborations with designers and manufacturers. Moreover, once a custom bottle is introduced, other aspects like labels, capsules, and packaging also need to be updated, adding further complexity, disruption and ultimately, cost.
Sustainability matters
Nowadays, consumers are pushing for sustainability. More and more brands are coming in speaking about local supply and recycled glass
Consumers are increasingly mindful of sustainability, so investing in environmentally friendly packaging can provide a competitive edge. Whether through lighter bottles or higher recycled content, sustainability should be a core consideration in all packaging design.Especially bespoke.
Build sustainability into your design brief by asking suppliers to maximise recycled content and reduce the bottle’s weight. Sacred’s new bottle is made with 50% recycled glass and is 25% lighter, which also cuts transportation emissions (bottles and branding).
Nolan noted that sourcing locally and using recycled materials are becoming essential considerations for brands as consumers increasingly value sustainability. So is taking a serious look at supplier ESG programmes and their pathway towards net zero.
The impact on supply chain and costs
You have to change everything—capsules, labels, cartons… even photography
While custom bottles provide clear branding advantages, they also come with logistical challenges. Production times are longer, and brands must plan around glass shortages and the complexities of manufacturing.
For small brands like Sacred, it’s crucial to balance the aesthetic and marketing benefits of bespoke packaging with practical considerations around cost and supply chain management.
Transitioning to a new custom bottle is no small feat. Not only are there design and manufacturing challenges, but logistical hurdles too. What to do with old inventory? How to phase it into the retail, on social, into export markets and so on…
Key takeaway:
Look at the full lifecycle not just part of the chain. Start by assessing the timing and the challenges around your inbound goods and work through the ramifications. Then do the same for your product’s life cycle downstream. When making the switch, you may even need to consider two-way deliveries for a while, picking up old stock that will not sell given the new look, marketing and interest around an improved bespoke design.
Also consider that changes in dimensions, weight, brand look and so sometimes need new line forms with major wholesalers and national accounts – which can take months. Plan ahead and work collaboratively to ensure trade partners are onboard, not against you!
How to evaluate if custom bottles are right for your brand
Based on the conversation and in the experiences and insights shared by Hilary, Nolan and Olivier – here is a useful roadmap for brands looking to explore the move to custom packaging.
Assess financial viability
Ensure your brand has the financial capacity to invest in custom bottles, which come with higher upfront costs for molds, labels, and design revisions. More on those cost expectations here.
While it can be part of a launch strategy -entering into custom glass too early may put unnecessary strain on your finances. Smaller brands need to weigh the long-term ROI of such an investment carefully.
Consider market differentiation
Evaluate if a custom bottle will really help you stand out in a crowded market at the stage of growth you are at. Evaluate consumer perception andmake sure that a custom design will actually resonate with your core customers.
If your product won’t benefit significantly from unique shape in the short to medium term, the investment may be better spent elsewhere.
For example, It may be a smarter move to invest the same time and effort into an off the peg bottle solution with great artwork and decoration, and use the remaining budget on PR and Marketing drives. After that, revisit the idea once you are more established.
Analyse your brand’s growth stage
Consider if your brand is at a stage where custom packaging will unlock new growth opportunities. Sacred waited 15 years before investing in custom bottles, allowing them to solidify their market position first (bottles and branding).
Moving to custom bottles too early can burden small brands with unnecessary costs. It can also happen before they have a solid understanding of their differentiating factors and truly understand their niche and market position. Going to soon then prevents further brand evolution even though it may have benefited from extra time figuring that out. Ensure your brand is well-established and that you have clarity in your vision, mission and USP’s before making this jump.
Assess supply chain capacity
Investigate whether your current supply chain can handle the demands of custom bottles. Custom designs often require more lead time, and you’ll need to adjust your packaging processes (bottles and branding).
Failing to account for changes in your supply chain can result in delays and stock shortages. Same goes with not taking into consideration your route to market and your customer’s needs and processes. Are you able to manage this effectively both at switchover phase and thereafter.
A manifestation of a far bigger set of criteria
The conversation underscored the value of both thoughtful design and sustainability in today’s spirits industry.
The liquid has to be good, but a bespoke bottle helps you get noticed in larger stores where you can’t hand-sell your story.
It also showed that for brand owners, the journey to a custom bottle is not just about aesthetics however — it’s about aligning your packaging with your brand’s ethos and making strategic decisions that will resonate with both consumers and the market.
If you do it right, you can create something that always backs up your brand and gives you points of discovery.
