Member Article

Rotherham glass manufacturer supplies cider-maker Aspall

Aspall has refreshed the look of its bottled ciders using a lightweight Vichy bottle produced by leading glass manufacturer Beatson Clark.

Aspall ciders are usually sold in a unique bottle designed by Beatson Clark, but the award-winning cider maker wanted a shorter bottle for the on trade as the bespoke design is too tall for most pub and bar fridges.

Aspall has given its range of bottled ciders a new look and six products are now on sale in pubs or bars in Beatson Clark’s standard 500ml amber lightweight Vichy bottle which has a crown neck finish.

Polly Robinson, marketing consultant at Aspall said: “We love the iconic bottle that we’ve been using for almost 100 years, but it’s now too tall for the fridges in most pubs and bars.”

“In many pubs the bottle is kept on its side, which means that our products don’t catch the eye of customers choosing their drink from the other side of the bar. We wanted our products to stand upright, so we asked Beatson Clark to supply a slightly shorter bottle for us.

“The new bottles are going down really well and have helped us to get more packaged, as opposed to draught, product into the on trade.”

Two new Aspall products were the first to be sold in the new bottle: Clement’s Four, a lower ABV (alcohol by volume) cider named after Aspall founder Clement Chevallier, and Isabel’s Berry, a light, refreshing cider flavoured with redcurrant and raspberry juice.

Four existing ciders will also be sold in the new bottle: Draught Cyder, Premier Cru, Harry Sparrow and Perronelle’s Blush.

Damian Mills, head of operations at Aspall, commented: “We like working with a smaller company like Beatson Clark because they are able to be more flexible and provide great customer service.

“We’ve worked with them closely to find a solution to having a shorter bottle which will fit in pub fridges more easily. The Vichy bottle has been a great success and enabled us to significantly increase the volume of packaged Aspall cider going into the on trade.”

Beatson Clark’s marketing manager, Charlotte Taylor, said: “We have a huge choice of designs in our general sale range and we are confident that we can supply a suitable premium packaging container for most products from stock.

“We have worked with Aspall on various projects since 2010 and we’re very pleased to have helped them to come up with a stylish solution when it came to repackaging their ciders for the on trade.”

Bottled Aspall ciders can be found in a number of pubs including those owned by Adnams, Fullers, Greene King and Wells & Young’s.

As well as the standard and bespoke 500ml cider bottles, Beatson Clark also supplies Aspall with their 330ml vinegar bottles.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .