A leading Angus spirits company has launched a “wonky” version of its vodka to help reduce waste and become more sustainable.
Husband and wife team Graeme and Caroline Jarron have decided to sell the bottles of their Ogilvy Spirits, which don’t hit exacting standards and would be unsuitable for selling in supermarkets or shop standards, to the public on their website and on-site store.
Listing the perfectly imperfect wonky bottles on their web shop, the 70cl bottle of vodka, which usually retails at £36, can be purchased for £1 cheaper with its own unique “wonky” design.
These bottles would usually have to be recycled or discarded, however, Caroline and Graeme believe taking a more sustainable approach to minor errors on the bottles printed design will help further reduce their waste and become more sustainable.
The duo grow potatoes, cereal crops and rear livestock on their farm in Hatton of Ogilvy Farm, Forfar, Angus and launched the spirits arm of the business in 2014.
To date the firm currently produces vodka made from potatoes, creme de cassis liqueur and a range of flavoured vodka liqueurs. Ogilvy Spirits has more recently created its own limoncello.
What makes them wonky?
After a mishap with the decorating machine, hundreds of bottles featured an imperfect design with some missing wording, ink bleeding, and the frosting on the bottle not coming out perfectly.
Every bottle has varying levels of imperfections and no two bottles are the same.
More than 300 of the wonky bottles have already been sold with customers raving about the idea on social media.
One fan of the brand said on Facebook they could be described as “collectors’ pieces” while others asked if they could refill or recycle their old bottles, too.
Ogilvy Spirits stated it was looking into this option before the pandemic, and hope to offer a service like this in due course.
First wonky veg, now wonky bottles
At the farm the potato crop is sold each year in different grades, with the highest quality and highest value potatoes sold to supermarkets and the lowest grade potatoes sold or given away as stock potatoes for cattle feed.
Potatoes are considered to be low grade if they are damaged, too small for sale or have skin blemishes, and this is what first led Graeme and Caroline to further think how they could use their wonky veg for the better.
Louise Green, sales and events ambassador for Ogilvy Spirits, said the idea has been well received and has ensured they aren’t wasting perfectly good glass bottles.
She said: “The wonky bottles just haven’t met our exacting standards as they have some minor imperfections on the decoration like a missing ‘O’ on our textured pattern, or the ink has bled a little in places.
“Much like our tatties, they aren’t perfect, but they are still usable. We hate waste, so we had to find a way to use these bottles.
“There are hundreds of wonky bottles which is why we couldn’t bear to waste these. It was a huge volume of glass to just dispose of when it still serves its purpose of holding our vodka.
“We have been blown away by the reaction from customers – they are loving this idea. We sold in excess of 300 bottles in our first few days since launching.”