Packaging for New Zealand's Tuatara Brewing Co's flagship craft beer has been named the best new beer packaging at the 2013 Australian International Beer Awards.
The awards, conducted by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria and the University of Ballarat and now in their 21st year, attracted 1480 entries from around the world. The judging panel was made up of 42 Australian and international beer industry experts.
Tuatara won the award for its 12-pack carton.
The packaging award was sponsored by Labelmakers Group.
The actual bottles for the Tuatara beer, meanwhile, were launched this year and drew on inspiration from the brewery's namesake, the tuatara, a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is part of a distinct lineage stemming back to prehistoric times.
The bottles were developed in conjunction with O-I Asia-Pacific and featuring glass textured to produce a reptile scale effect.
Tuatara's general manager, Sean Murrie, said creating the bottle was a huge technical challenge by the brewery and O-I (PKN, April 2013, p.29).
“The idea for this bottle was so simple, and yet the technical challenges were immense,” he said.
After several early attempts both in New Zealand and overseas to bring a distinctive tuatara-patterned bottle to life, the company approached the Auckland offices of O-I.
“O-I could see our vision for this bottle right from the beginning and put an immense amount of work and skill into making it a reality. It could not have been possible without the company’s input,” Tuatara designer Anton Hart, said.
The bottle is now being produced for Tuatara at O-I New Zealand’s plant in Auckland.
