On this business journey we’ve learnt a whole lot; immeasurable, valuable knowledge in this new world of e-shop commerce. One thing that sticks out is packaging, primarily the vessels in which we contain our cocktails.
Initially we would sent out a kit that contained glass bottles of cocktails and pourable juice pouches.
Both of these would become a problem, when the pouches of pineapple juice would ferment and explode and the glass bottles would smash to bits. We changed to the most organic pineapple juice on the planet but still would encounter the same problem, the freshest product on the planet would still cause a malleable container to explode. So we went back to the drawing board. Mixing in the alcohol meant fermentation couldn’t happen, meaning everything was fresher and therefore wouldn’t have said volatile properties, yet we then thought “what happens when we put everything together?” - you get a shelf stable product that maintains its form and consistency. Whilst this may seem boring and unrelated it was a key step in the journey.
After we figured this we then realised that no matter what extortionate level of pound notes you spend on packaging, covered in fragile labels, somewhere along the way, delivery men seem to play football with the packages and your entire gift box gets ruined.
So… we then invest in copious amounts of packaging; bubble wrap, cardboard bubble wrap (to save the world from dreaded plastic) blow up bags… nevertheless glass is a fickle mistress and tends to shatter under the most protected of circumstances.
We finally discovered that if you just put the cocktail in a plastic bottle, you can throw it down to the concrete with the force of Zeus and it won’t shatter.
As a cocktail barman with a First Class degree in Forensic Science BSc this intrigued the scientific part of my brain.
PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is a type of plastic that doesn’t react with alcohol, acids and a bunch of other crazy substances (you’ve probably seen “PET” on your packaging products somewhere).
Whilst we all know plastic kills the turtles (my favourite animal by the way), it can be extremely useful. Specifically PET is the most recyclable plastic in the UK giving the spawn of rPET (recycled PET plastic) - SO! it doesn’t react with alcohol (and therefore doesn’t change the taste), is easily recyclable, is lightweight, carbon efficient and most importantly DOESN’T BREAK!
This led us to the decision of selling cocktail bottles out for delivery in PET bottles. What all this means is that we can send a full bottle of Watermelon Margarita to Scotland without fear that it will smash to oblivion. It gets you your cocktail on time (as we don’t have to resend another bottle) and saves us money, time, weight and carbon footprint.
Whilst plastic may seem an issue in the world, it’s actually the treatment of it, and it’s lack of recycling. Don’t throw the bottles in the ocean and upset the beautiful turtles, instead, be aware of your local recycling plant and/or bins provided by the council.
We send out Plastic bottles full of good times to you ensuring that no smashes occur; let’s be good and recycle those bottles so we can refill with banterous Libations.
Here at Unlocked Libations we don’t believe in waste. “Waste not want not” as they say, so thats why we made the decision to sell our Libations in PET bottles when sending it out to you beautiful people in the world. It ultimately makes it better for you and more efficient for us.
So check out our products and get some cocktails delivered straight to your face with no worries.
And don’t forget to recycle
Unlocked Libation