Jack Daniel’s New Bottle
I was sent an e-mail by Jack Daniel’s the other day with the title “we want you to be one of the first to know!” – I would imagine anyone who’s a Friend of Jack (a member of their fan club, that is) will have received the same e-mail. Curious as ever, I couldn’t resist opening it straight away. The secret contained within was actually fairly exciting, at least if you, like me, enjoy a good bottle nearly as much as a good whisk(e) y: Jack Daniel’s have decided to change the design of their world-famous bottle and label!
The new bottle is, as you would expect, quite similar to the old one – the difference is that they have sharpened it up a bit. While the old bottle had smooth, rounded corners, the new bottle is more rectangular and has harder features. The label is also very similar, but less cluttered. My initial reaction was negative, I have to admit, and the first thing I thought was “right, I’m going to have to get to the shops and stock up – because I won’t be buying it once that bottle comes around” (and I am a secret sucker for JD coke, as I’ve already confessed).
Having had a couple of days to get used to it, however, the new bottle is actually really starting to grow on me. When comparing the two bottles next to each other, the old one is starting to feel like a failed 1980’s modernization of a classic (don’t ask me when it first came out, I couldn’t tell you, but that’s what it feels like to me) and the label really is rather cluttered. The new bottle looks older, classier, and more “howdy, partner”, which is exactly what I want from my Jack Daniel’s. It also looks a lot less like the Jim Beam bottle, which is a bonus (not because I dislike Jim Beam – I don’t – but because diversity is king).
My final verdict: 2 thumbs up!
August 2, 2011 @ 3:08 pm
Jack Daniel’s will be featured on the show CNBC Titans: Jack Daniel’s – Thursday August 4th at 10p eastern. the site is titans.cnbc.com – lots of cool information on this legendary brand!
August 9, 2011 @ 2:50 am
I came across the new bottle at the store today and didn’t like it at first, though it does look classier now that I see it again in your post. To my eye, the old bottle still looks more 1800’s-era, and I have appreciated it’s styling so much that for a while I had a collection of seven or eight empty ones lining my upper bathroom shelf as a decorative motif, (I know, very ‘bachelor’, but it beats plastic flowers or seashells). Anyway, I still have those old bottles in storage so now maybe I can wait awhile for them to become collector’s items.
August 13, 2011 @ 10:45 am
Hey Marc! Aye, seems like you had a similar first impression then. It did take me a while to get used to it, but now I really don’t see why I liked the old bottle so darn much. I mean, it’s a good bottle, but it isn’t mind boggling. I have to confess that I, too, used to have a collection (a humble 6, if I remember correctly) that decorated an empty kitchen shelf – along with 10 bottles of Disaronno (I’d like to say these were the Mrs contribution, but in all honesty I drank as much of the stuff as she did) – so there’s no shame in that! ;). Holding on to them might not be a bad idea, though.