MikeK's recent post about the Very Special Old Fitzgerald reminded me about the origin of the glassware for the bottles in the Bourbon Heritage Collection. This collection was put together without a lot of support from U.D. North America. There was actually more support from the people in England than the people in North America for creating this collection. As a result, the bottles to produce the collection were all bottles from other products, with the exception of the Dickel bottle. It was designed just for the collection because it was also to be the bottle to be sold at the distillery in the Country Store.
The bottles used were as follows:
I W Harper 15yo - Weller Antique Bottle
Weller 10 yo - Bell's Scotch Bottle
Old Charter 13yo - Fleischman's Gin Bottle
Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12yo - Canadian Whixskey Bottle - I forget which brand but I want to say Canadian OFC, but I don't think that is right. Maybe it was Golden Wedding. Gary, can you help me out here? Does Gibson's Canadian sound right?
Since the brands were sold, I know Buffalo Trace has changed the Old Charter bottle. The Bell's Scotch bottle has been so popular that many other brands have also started using the design.
This is not the first time that bottles have been re-used in different products. For example, the Blanton's bottle was first used as a Kentucky Tavern holiday bottle. Companies will often look for existing bottle molds in order to save money when bottling new products. The expense of paying for a new mold for a product that could flop is a gamble most companies are not willing to take.
Mike Veach