Going Beyond the Bar

Going Beyond the Bar: Travel Distilled profiles The 86 Co, importing spirits in bottles designed for bartenders.

So a guy walks into a bar. The guy is Englishman Simon Ford, and the bar is Employees Only in Manhattan.

Spirits from The 86 Co Fords Gin — Fords Gin

Ford is promoting Plymouth Gin, and the guys who own the bar, long-time bartenders and spirits consultants Jason Kosmas and Dushan Zaric, like Plymouth Gin. They also like Ford and the three become good buddies.

And as good buddies do, they chew the fat, exchange ideas and make plans, not only fuelled by a few shared cocktails but by a passion for distilling and the spirits industry. One of those ideas turns out to be very simple, but the best ideas often are. Who do you go to if you want to make the perfect spirit in the perfect bottle? Customers? Distributors? No, you go to bartenders. So that’s what they did, and The 86 Co was born.

Spirits from The 86 Co Cana Brava Rum from Panama — Cana Brava Rum from Panama

Bottles Designed for Bartenders

They polled their bartender contacts around the world, met with them and got them to test different bottle shapes – and contents – in their quest for the perfect bartender’s bottle.

‘We asked the question,’ says Jason Kosmas, ‘What does a bartender REALLY need to make a good drink? First and foremost they need good juice. We decided all our spirits would be quintessential and formulated to contribute to the final drink. There would be no gimmicky process or ingredient. Second, we decided that the bottle would be functional and ergonomic to deliver the liquid without “pain” into the cocktail.’

The bottles for their first four products – Fords Gin from England, Caña Brava Rum from Panama, Tequila Cabeza from Mexico’s Vivanco family and Aylesbury Duck Vodka from Canada – are designed from neck to base with the bartender in mind.

Aylesbury Duck Vodka Logo

Taking It by the Neck

‘The neck conforms to the hand,’ says Dushan Zaric, ‘and allows for a proper, comfortable grip. It’s the neck us old timers were accustomed to when we started bartending. It allows for clean jigger pouring and accurate free pouring.

‘There were several key styles of pouring which bartenders employed,’ Zaric adds. ‘This is the first bottle that combines them together. There’s the traditional method of grabbing the bottle by the neck with the entire hand. For this we made the neck a classic tapered grip. For a more flashy style, a bartender might pick up the bottle between their middle and ring finger and rotate it 180 degrees. We created a ring at the base of the neck to provide better grip here. Some liked a more delicate touch, grasping the bottle by the waist and pouring at around 90 degrees. Simon noted how water bottles were more ergo-dynamic with a grip in the middle of the bottle, so we created a channel, which makes it easier to grip. The last way bartenders pour is what I call the Champagne grip. It’s by the base, with the finger on the dimple at the underside of the bottle. We created a base which can be gripped and instead of the traditional dimple, we have an 86 embossed on the bottom.’

Spirits from The 86 Co Tequila Cabeza — Tequila Cabeza

The Ideal Label

The quality of the label on the bottle was another of the company’s – and bartenders’ – requirements. They would be educational and informative, not full of market-speak and brand promotion.

The only feature they haven’t yet been able to implement is color-coding the neck for when the bottles are in a well.

‘We’re still trying to find ways to do this,’ says Ford, ‘without creating bottle costs that escalate out of control. Having an expensive bottle is not what 86 is about. We want our cost of goods to be all about the quality of what’s inside the bottle.’