6
2008
Bottles
I buy my liqueur bottles at Specialty Bottle. I buy the 250 ml and 500 ml square bottles (shown at right). They come with a standard, tapered cork by default, but you can order them without the cork and save a little money. I prefer to use a twist cork (see below). You can buy them by the case for a discount. They come in cartons of 12. The company provides excellent customer service. I have ordered several shipments and not a single bottle was broken.
Twist Corks
I prefer to use a Twist Cork (T-Cork) when bottling my liqueurs because it is handy and looks more finished when used with a hood. The tapered corks that come with the bottle are sort of clumsy and don’t look very neat when a hood is shrunk around it. You can find T-Corks at most homebrew supply stores: T-Corks
Hoods
Hoods (or seals) will provide a professional touch to your homebrew liqueurs and wines. I buy my hoods at MyOwnLabels.com. They have good prices and excellent service.
Simply slide the hood over the top of the bottle and turn it upside down in boiling water for a few seconds: Hoods
Labels
The simplest way to add your own labels is to order them from a company like MyOwnLabels.com. I have never ordered labels from them because I designed my own and had them printed and cut by a local printer. But it may be a lot more convenient to buy them from a company that makes wine and drink labels.
When visiting the website, click the wine/drink labels link. Just click on a label design that you like and you will see that design in a variety of sizes. Click on the desired size to see that design and size combination in a variety of colors.
Custom Labels
I have added a section for do-it-yourself custom labels on the downloads page. Here you will find an assortment of free downloadable templates and press ready designs. All of the label designs can be printed by a commercial printer on a digital printer using xerographic or laser printing technology. The printer should use letter size label stock (8 1/2 in x 11 in) for printing custom label sizes. The cost is very affordable and this method is best suited for small runs. I will typically have 10 sheets done at a time for 4-up layouts (40 labels per run) or 6 to 12 sheets for 10-up layouts (60 to 120 labels per run). I have done them on semi-gloss as well as glossy stock. After printing the sheets, the printer can cut them into individual labels with a hydraulic paper cutter. All the templates have crop marks for cutting the labels.
750 ml Wine Bottle Labels
The custom label for the 750 ml wine bottle can be found here on the downloads page. I will use 750 ml wine bottles for bottling ready mix cocktails.
500 ml Liqueur Bottle Labels
The custom label for the 500 ml liqueur bottle can be found here on the downloads page. I will usually print half as many of the 500 ml size as the 250 ml size because I won’t bottle as many of the 500 ml size as I will the 250 ml size.
250 ml Liqueur Bottle Labels
The custom label for the 250 ml liqueur bottle can be found here on the downloads page. I will usually print twice as many of the 250 ml size as the 500 ml size because I will bottle more of the 250 ml size when I bottle my liqueurs.
