The bottle will be tested for the first time at the Salon du Sake in Paris this weekend (October 6-8).
The bottle is in partnership with Kanemasu Brewery in Japan and will go on sale at the show to see what interest it attracts and if it can find distributors who want to partner with DNP.
Saké exports
The company has also launched a white saké bottle, which went on sale regionally this week.
Speaking to BeverageDaily at Tokyo Pack 2018 in Japan (October 2-5) Keigi Yoshida, GM, global business packaging, DNP, said it chose to exhibit the 3D-effect packaging in a saké bottle because it’s a popular drink in Japan and made sense to trial the premium design with that first.
“The bottle is made with a special pre-form wrap to reproduce fine patterns and follow the shape of the bottle,” he said.
“We want to exhibit the product at Salon du Saké because we like the idea of rice and champagne together, reflecting Japanese culture.”
The black bottle is made from a DNP-developed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic based on functional film that has light blocking and gas barrier properties. It has been adopted for use in the Japanese rice wine Awanama, promoted by the High Pressure Sterilized Draft Sake Consortium.
The consortium, which is represented by Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Life Sciences, works in the development of a high pressure sterilization process performed following the injection of the rice wine into the bottle, and in this latest development the flexibility and elasticity of the DNP developed plastic bottle were valued by the consortium leading to its adoption.
Plastic bottles are valued for their lightness and ease of use but according to The Council for PET Bottle Recycling Guidelines, coloring a bottle is not recognized in the Japanese domestic market and so it is difficult to use plastic bottles with beverages, such as alcohol, which need light blocking properties to prevent a deterioration in the contents.
DNP says it overcome this challenge by developing a complex bottle, whereby a transparent plastic bottle is molded with a colored film comprising functions such as light blocking properties that envelops the entire bottle.
The newly developed product not only includes light blocking and oxygen barrier properties, but is a next generation plastic bottle allowing for expanded design possibilities, such as printing on the surface of the bottle.
Recycling guidelines
As the colored film can be separated from the bottle for disposal purposes, the remaining transparent plastic bottle complies with domestic recycling guidelines.
The consortium has subsequently decided to adopt the complex bottle as the container for Awanama, a draft sake.
The project aims to develop new demand for Japanese sake, and expand exports.
The design for the Awanama bottle was created by Frame, headquartered in Niigata City.
DNP joined the consortium in April 2017, which has been adopted as a regional strategic project by the Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization.
