Absolut Originality

We have always experimented with new techniques and tried going off the beaten track to make something extraordinary. Following the previous year’s launch of Absolut Unique, we wanted to pursue the challenge of capturing the soul of Absolut even further – bringing innovation, creativity and quality even closer to our very bottle.

The outcome was one of those small things that makes all the difference; one drop of blue pigment, tracing its way through the bottle and taking a shape of its own.

We had no idea what to expect during this experiment. But when the bottles cooled off and we could see how the streak of cobalt blue formed a beautiful contrast to the crystal clear glass, we knew we had made a piece of art, unmistakably by Absolut. And when lining them up, we knew that this playful stunt was our next limited edition – a drop of originality in four million unique designs.

It sounds easy, we know. All innovation does once you have the answer. But it took us months to turn this vision into reality.

Releasing a drop of cobalt blue into the glass only takes a millisecond. It needs to be added just as the molten glass goes into the mould at 1100°C. At that temperature, the cobalt is invisible, but as the glass cools off, the blue infusion appears inside the glass of each bottle.

Once we had it all figured out for the 750 ml sized bottles, the 1 litre bottles trial wasn’t really up to standard. Back to square one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Meanwhile, we were scratching our heads figuring out how to show 4 million uniquely streaks of blue. With a transparent background. In multiple images. “Make it vivid, make it stand out,” they said. The solution was a drop of cobalt blue, pipetted into water, and photographed as the two liquids came together in sweet harmony. Beautiful.

As you can imagine, Absolut Originality has since its launch in 2013 been close to our hearts, for more than one reason.