Booze in a bag? You bet!
Ready-to-drink cocktails come in flask-shaped pouch packaging with surprising environmental benefits.
Melissa Larson, Contributing Editor -- Packaging Digest, 3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM
Multilayer barrier pouches are entering food and beverage markets that were never before penetrated. Spirits are the latest application, specifically ShotPak, a 50 ml flask-shaped pouch filled with ready-to-drink cocktails that can go where glass containers can't. Beverage Pouch Group (BPG) LLC, Sarasota, FL, markets the pouches in boxed multipacks of six and 12 pouches, and the product is racking up sales with distributors in nearly a dozen states.
“There's lots of activity around our new pouch package. Busy, on-the-go consumers are always asking for something new, and our natural ready-to-drink pouches stand out on the store shelves,” says R. Charles Murray, Beverage Pouch Group CEO. “Until now we have not really ventured outside of Florida on the East Coast, but we have seen a lot of national interest, which has been great.”
The three brand categories include: ShotPak ready-to-drink cocktails; Shotpak and California Blue Premiums; and STR8UP spirits. Mixed-drink flavors include everything from popular favorites such as mojitos, cosmopolitans, martinis and pina coladas to kamikazes, lemon drops and sour apple flavors, with color-coordinated graphics.
BPG also markets wine, water and beer in multilayer pouches under the VinoPaq, BevPaq, and BeerPaq brands.
Multilayered barrier pouches for the STR8UP product are filled with premium dark rum.
No muss, less fuss
Feet firmly planted in the 20-something, bar-hopping, outdoorsy demographic, Murray points out the benefits of the ShotPak for both servers and consumers. They are attractive, pre-measured, and easy for hotels and casinos to serve without mixing, pouring or dealing with glass containers. Pouches are easy to chill or freeze, can be taken to venues where glass and metal may be prohibited, and because they feature an 8 mm orifice after opening, can't be easily spiked or adulterated.
The easy-tear pouch is a patented laminated structure containing LLDPE, nylon, foil and a proprietary layer. Shelf-stable for a full 18 months, the structure guards against leaching of the alcohol in the mixed cocktail and after extensive organoleptic testing by BPG, no flavor changes were noted.
Gravure printing is done by strategic partner HQ in Shantou, China, with all material inspection and testing performed under the control of affiliate PCG Global in China. An interrelated group of companies under the banner of PPI Technologies Group also makes the pouchmaking and pouchfilling machinery used. Filling is done at Imperial Brands distillery, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, in a dedicated ShotPak filling room.
Zero landfill
Murray also touts the “Zero Landfill” environmental advantages of the package. There's a source-reduction story to tell, as the pouch takes up far less space than a bottle, weighs 20 times less than a bottle with comparable volume, uses far less energy to make, and has a lower CO2 footprint than a bottle. In states that have garbage incineration in place, such as BPG's home state of Florida, plasma arcing can vaporize the plastic components of the pouch, generating electricity, while collecting the metal left behind. This slag can be used for road construction projects.
“We have to get beyond the reliance on glass in the alcoholic beverages category,” says Murray. “Most glass for the U.S. market is now made in Mexico, and it is so expensive and cumbersome to ship recycled glass there that Mexican glass plants are using very little recycled product.”
Distributor's view
A recent conversation with the newly licensed Illinois distributor for the product gives an insight into the state-by-state marketing scheme for this product and its packaging benefits.
“We believe this is a quality product with a unique package and good environmental aspects,” says Michael Dehn, executive v.p. of sales and marketing for Direct Distribution LLC, Lombard, IL. His company will distribute all of BPG's pouched brands and was ready to place its initial order at presstime. “There are four or five major market segments this product is perfect for. They are what we call points of destination: sports stadiums, golf courses, festivals such as Chicago's Taste of Chicago, 5 and 10K races, and the banquet/catering market,” says Dehn.
“In all of these places, it's cumbersome and inconvenient to set up a bar and have a bartender,” he says. “These pouches are easier for the venue to monitor, there's no cleanup involved, and it's an environmentally responsible package. That's especially important for events where a municipality is responsible for cleanup, such as music festivals.”
Dehn is excited about the market potential at fitness events such as 5- and 10K races, where mountains of plastic bottles can pile up after the race is over.
While the distributor network actually buys the product and sets the prices depending on the market, Murray does confirm that growth of the pouches has been 30 percent or more each year since launch, and that this year BPG will celebrate production of its 5 millionth pouch. With more distributor agreements, the party seems certain to continue.
| More information is available: | ||
| Beverage Pouch Group LLC, 941/359-6678, www.beveragepouchgroup.com | ||
| Hongqiao Packaging Industrial Co., Ltd., +86 754-82533003. www.hqpack.com | ||
| PPI Technologies Group, 941/359-6678. www.ppitechnologies.com | ||
| Imperial Brands, 561/624-5662. www.ibrandsinc.com | ||
| Direct Distribution LLC, 312/520-0204. | ||
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Hello,
Regarding your statement linking plastic to dependence on foreign oil, That is a myth! As a member of Save the
Plastic Bag.com, we clearly affirm the following:
There is a claim repeated over and over again on the Internet that plastic bags are made out of oil and that 12
million barrels of oil are used annually in the United States to make the plastic bags that Americans use.
It is not true.
Plastic bags are made out of polyethylene. Polyethylene is made of ethylene. In the United States, ethylene is made
of ethane which is extracted from natural gas. As a result, plastic bags manufactured in the United States are not
made out of oil.
The ethane must be removed from the natural gas anyway to lower the BTU value of the natural gas to an acceptable
level. Ethane burns too hot to be allowed to remain in high levels in natural gas that is delivered to homes and
businesses for fuel. There is nothing else that the ethane can be used for except to make ethylene. If ethane is
not used to make plastic, it will have to be burned off, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions.
Using the ethane to make plastic does not in any way reduce the amount of fuel available for transportation or
power generation or increase our energy imports.
If we were to abolish plastic bags, it would have zero impact on our dependence on foreign oil.
The United States is an exporter of polyethylene. The United States imports virtually no polyethylene.
Second, I am glad that you are keeping the discussion on beverage products, and not pharma applications for glass.
Yes you can store high value adult beverage products for ever and ever in glass, however, the majority of beverage
products are consumed in a relatively short time line. The largest component of wine's carbon footprint is the glass bottle. Heavy glass needs quite a bit of energy to be transported around the globe. Packaging Digest is chock full of stories of companies making the switch from Glass to Plastic, and bragging about the positive environmental impacts. But don't take my word for it, check out the scathing article in the 2.22.10 Vinography blog, titled "Glass Wine Bottles Strike Back. In the Wrong Direction." Your witness?
Chandler Hadraba - 2010-11-3 13:37:23 EST -
"...reducing carbon footprint..." is not a great motivator for me to switch from an elegant package to a cheap feeling (read "plastic", poly-whatever, package)alternative. The greenhouse gas hysteria is junk science as far as I'm concerned. If you want to worry about it, fine, don't drag me along and reduce my choices, or make me pay for phony offset credits designed to make ex-politicians wealthy, thank you very much.
Now, we haven't even talked about the safety aspect, or lack thereof, of plastic containers. Plastic containers contain all kinds of wicked chemicals, like BPA and heavy metals from the catalysts used in the feed stock mfg process, and I don't want those chemicals leaching into my beverages.
So, I will have a beer now in my fully recyclable, safe and elegant glass bottle.
Richard - 2010-11-3 08:18:08 EST -
Hello,
As reported by save the plastic bag
"There is a claim repeated over and over again on the Internet that plastic bags are made out of oil and that 12 million barrels of oil are used annually in the United States to make the plastic bags that Americans use.It is not true.Plastic bags are made out of polyethylene. Polyethylene is made of ethylene. In the United States, ethylene is made of ethane which is extracted from natural gas. As a result, plastic bags manufactured in the United States are not made out of oil.The ethane must be removed from the natural gas anyway to lower the BTU value of the natural gas to an acceptable level. Ethane burns too hot to be allowed to remain in high levels in natural gas that is delivered to homes and businesses for fuel. There is nothing else that the ethane can be used for except to make ethylene. If ethane is not used to make plastic, it will have to be burned off, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions.
Using the ethane to make plastic does not in any way reduce the amount of fuel available for transportation or power generation or increase our energy imports.
If we were to abolish plastic bags, it would have zero impact on our dependence on foreign oil.
The United States is an exporter of polyethylene. The United States imports virtually no polyethylene."
Second, I am glad that the discussion is on glass for beverages, not for pharma applications.
From Vinography
"Glass bottles are at least indirectly responsible for the biggest component of wine's carbon footprint: heavy glass bottles require a lot of fossil fuel to move around the planet.
Everyone in the wine business that has half a brain has been looking to reduce their carbon footprint, if only to be able to tell their prospective customers that they are, and for many that means moving to lighter glass bottles that contain less.... glass.
That, combined with mainstream wine consumers' resurgence in interest in more environmentally friendly and convenient packaging like bag-in-box and Tetra-Pak (think: kids juice cartons) must have the glass industry a little rattled. Or would that be "shattered?""
I could have not said it better myself.
Your witness?
Chandler Hadraba - 2010-10-3 21:08:51 EST -
While flexible and plastic containers do have certain advantages regarding weight, convenience and mfg cost, they are a poor substitute for the elegance of a glass bottle. When I drink spirits, wine or beer, having it dispensed from glass adds to the enjoyment of the experience, it feels rich and makes the moment, well, special. The other packaging options just do not give the same viseral or tactile sensation, in a word, they feel "cheap". Even as trash, finding an old glass bottles buried in the ground is a treasure, finding an old, undecomposed PET bottle will still be trash, even 100 years from now.
Richard - 2010-10-3 15:50:40 EST -
Hello,
According to the Institute of Packaging Professionals(IOPP) Fundamentals of Packaging Technology, a temperature of 2,750 F is required to make glass. What does that carbon footprint look like? Also every time the glass is recycled, it is at the same high temperature. Safety is also an issue, I cannot remember the last time I cut my foot at the beach stepping on a plastic pouch. These reasons and many, many, more are why Plastic Packaging options will continue to both take market share from existing materials and grow into new categories. The claim that the materials are not able to be recycled is a "myth", anything can be recycled. Look at the amazing work of Terra-cycle, of preventing some of the most difficult products from even entering the waste stream. Developing creative solutions for waste sounds like a great area for American Innovation as California moves towards Zero-Waste. If plastic package products had the advantage of a deposit program, that glass beverage products enjoy, this would be a non-issue.
Chandler Hadraba - 2010-10-3 13:55:52 EST
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