Leading glass packaging company, Croxsons, recently came to the aid of start-up artisan gin distiller, the HMS Spirits Company, to fulfil an urgent packaging requirement.

The distiller had found itself without a closure for its latest release, Mary Rose Gin, a small batch London Dry Gin produced to celebrate Henry VIII’s famous warship. The distiller, who had been let down by a supplier, turned to Croxsons at the eleventh hour to supply them with the all important closure.

“I approached Croxsons with my closure proposals having being told by another party that it was impossible to create my design,” said HMS Spirits Company’s managing director, Ben Maguire. “They worked with me to quickly get my design mocked up, approved and into production.”

For Croxsons, closures are a key part of their ‘customer journey’, being ‘a marriage between closure and glass’ and representing a great opportunity to emphasise a brand and create a lasting memory. In this case, a bartop cork closure was the natural choice to complement both the bottle design and striking double-sided back label.

“The cork required multiple side print as well as much top print coverage as possible. The top coverage is part of the key look of the brand, so it has to carry depth of colour and excellent registration. As a first, we used 3D printing to create a mock-up to reduce the timeline as, the customer had been let down and we knew that we had to pull out all the stops,” said Croxsons’ Tim Croxson.

“The extra width of the top, which had to be flush with the bottle, wasn’t a challenge due to our experience in producing luxury and distinctive bartop closures. The customer opted for a micro-agglomerate cork, which was specifically cleaned and treated to meet the standard required for the premium spirit inside the bottle,” he added.

Maguire concluded by saying:

“The end result is fantastic, it’s exactly what I wanted and is frequently commented on by our customers. Croxsons aren’t just a supplier, they are a partner to your business and I hope to work with them for the long term.”