I’m starting a new series of blog posts that look more at the labels on liquor bottles, since that’s how so many people buy spirits… by what the bottle looks like.

For this first edition, I thought I’d start with the distillery that single-handedly  brought back the spirit industry to Washington State- Dry Fly Distilling in Spokane, Washington. They initially produced a vodka and gin in a  squat, heavy, thick glass bottle. It felt hefty in the hand and looked good because it featured their signature solid, red fishing fly. (With a quick glance, it reminded me of the Pendleton bottle.)

Since then, they’ve added a 100% wheat whiskey and a bourbon to their lineup. Let’s take a closer look at the (former) Washington Wheat Whiskey.

I have two of these bottles from the first release. You can’t really see it in this picture, but the band on the front actually has a trout pattern on the sides of the bottle. It looks nice, pays homage to their company, and isn’t something you see on any other bottles. The only downside to this bottle was the fact that there are a few other spirits that use the exact same bottle. Who really cares, though? It’s a quality bottle. I liked this design with minimal text and graphics.

Fast forward a year and they switched bottles and bottle labels. Gone is the trout pattern. The Dry Fly name and logo are downsized and we have the name of the product in some crazy-ass font. It reminds me of professional wrestling for some reason. “This whiskey is awesome!!! Explosions!! Yeah!! This will get you drunk bro!!” I mean… really? Who are they trying to sell this stuff to? The addition of the footed bottle is cool and all, but the font is just terrible. It’s not much a step up from Comic Sans (if it’s a step up at all).

It would be interesting to see if the label change made a difference in sales and whether Dry Fly is adding new customers because of it. Maybe the Dry Fly guys can provide some insight in the comments. My last thought: good product, good old label, lame new label.