Awash with fresh, vibrant colors and decorated with fictional tales of the quirky inhabitants of the town of beanblossom, new 250ml cans of beanblossom hard cider in five fruit flavors reflect the vision of its brand owner, oliver winery of bloomington, in. &ldquowe believe wine is meant to be approachable, and winemaking is meant to be honest and fun,&rdquo says bill oliver, president of winemaking for oliver winery, a company that boasts the &ldquomost modernly equipped winery in the eastern u.s.&rdquo the beanblossom line of apple wine with natural flavors was launched a decade ago in traditional glass wine bottles.
Last year, oliver rebranded and reintroduced the product in resealable 500ml aluminum bottles from exal, employing handdrawn type and illustrations from local artist kevin pope. &ldquokevin listened and threw out some concepts that were right on, right from the start,&rdquo recalls oliver. &ldquoit&rsquos an absolutely fun, fresh package that reflects the bright fruit flavors we&rsquove achieved with the cider.&rdquo in spring 2012, oliver added the 250ml aluminum can, supplied by ball, to the lineup, providing a singleserve option for the 8 abv cider beverage.
This smaller size comes in a fourcan multipack, housed in a similarly colorful and creative carton. Artwork for the bottles, cans, and cartons comprises characters imagined by pope, illustrated in his signature style, with stories for each &ldquothat are very true to americana and rural or oddball lifestyles,&rdquo explains oliver. &ldquohis drawn people try to become someone everyone might know&mdashan uncle, an aunt, neighbors&mdashusually not as bright as they truly believe they are, but also risk takers and adventurers.&rdquo flavor varieties are distinguished through different color palettes&mdashsuch as pink and green for raspberry, and cyan and red for strawberry&mdashwith pull tabs brilliantly colored to match.
According to oliver, adapting the artwork from the aluminum bottle for the can and carton formats required pope to redraw most of the graphic elements to fit, as well as create new elements for the fourpaneled carton. Skuzzio design managed quality control for the new formats. The aluminum bottles are sevencolor dry offsetprinted by exal cans are offsetprinted in six colors by ball. Beanblossom hard cider is sold wholesale, retail, and online, in nearly half the u.s.
States. Bottles are sold individually for 4, while a fourpack is available for 8. Says oliver, &ldquobeanblossom hard cider has become a topselling item for retailers who have carried the product the longest.&rdquo &ldquopeople are drawn to this product for its packaging, but also for the idea of a winery making craft ciders,&rdquo he continues. &ldquowe&rsquove put a lot of energy into making sure people understand it&rsquos an adult beverage that happens to be colorful and comical, but seriously delicious.&rdquo
