Black Fly Shaking Things Up For The Upcoming Summer Party Season
Canadian Packaging
Design & Innovation Design Black Fly Beverages Black Fly Vodka Cranberry Long Island Iced Tea Packaging Technologies Inc. (PTi) Tequila Margarita Tequila Shaker Shots Vodka GrapefruitThe new tequila ‘poppers’ offer breakthrough convenience and portability to suit virtually any festive occasion.
Knocking back shots of tequila has long been a failproof way to kick any party or festive occasion up a notch or few, but doing so the time-honored way with a dash of salt and a fresh wedge of lemon often requires patience and preparation that some party-goers find too much of a burden or just plain inconvenient.
But thanks to a new RTD (ready-to-drink) cocktail sensation from London, Ont.-based Black Fly Beverages, tequila fans of all stripes and temperaments can enjoy a f lavorful
burst of tequila-based pick-me-up in a flash with the company’s new line of Tequila Shaker Shots.
Packaged in clear 50-ml test-tube plastic containers that are actually preforms molded into the 400-ml PET (polyethylene terephthalate) used to bottle the company’s fast-growing portfolio of popular RTD cocktails like Black Fly Vodka Cranberry, Tequila Margarita,, Vodka Grapefruit and Long Island Iced Tea, the new tequila ‘poppers’ offer breakthrough convenience and portability to suit virtually any festive occasion.
“Our Mexican-inspired tequila poppers are made Black Fly-style with authentic and premium ingredients, including 17-percent genuine Mexican tequila, real lemon and lime juices, refreshing soda and a hint of salt,” says Black Fly co-founder Rob Kelly.
“I have been wanting to create a unique shot for the past 10 years, but it wasn’t until we moved into our new plant—with all new bells and whistles—that we had the ultimate flexibility to innovate, deliver and produce this exciting innovation and continue to expand our ever-growing line up if spirit mixed drinks all across Canada.”
As Kelly relates, investing into an on-site inline stretch blowmolder to produce its own plastic bottles in 2014 provided a unique opportunity to utilize the company’s proprietary 40-gram preforms as miniature drinking vessels in their own right, topped off with the company’s Fly’s signature 38-ml PCO (plastic continuous thread) tamper-evident resealable caps.
“I’ve always thought the preform would make an amazing package for a shot-style drink,” says Kelly, adding the preform are filled on the same filling machine that is to fill the 400-ml widemouth Black Fly plastic bottles.
“We have created the perfect blend of real tequila, soda, and pure lemon and lime juices to deliver an extremely approachable and tasty shot,” says Kelly, complimenting the firm’s packaging supplier Packaging Technologies Inc. (PTi) of Concord, Ont., for developing a perfect secondary packaging solution to hold the individual poppers securely in place through distribution and retail stages.
“We worked closely with PTi with an objective of reducing packaging to design a minimalist, yet sturdy, corrugated four-pack that holds four shot tubes perfectly upright,” Kelly states.
“Canadian customers have responded enthusiastically to the bright dynamic packaging,” says Kelly, crediting graphic designer Travis Stevenson of Oveflow Studios, also of London, for developing the attention-grabbing images and logos printed on the paperboxes.
“The retailers really appreciate the PTi-designed retail display case that is proving to be a great POS (point-ofsale) asset for retailers displaying and offering these unique Shaker Shots at the cash registers.”
Adds Black Fly Beverages co-founder Cathy Siskind-Kelly: “The name Shaker Shots is a call to action, to simply shake and enjoy.
“The buzz is already building across the country, and they have only just hit the market.”
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