Featured Project: Spirits Bottle Labeling

In 2018, Dustin Sterlino and his business partners were preparing to open a new spirits company—Mount Diablo Distillery in Antioch, California. From his previous experience in the spirits industry, he knew the brand and products needed to set him apart from the competition and deliver customers something new and exciting.

Working with a few local printers, Sterlino created what he called the Bartender’s or Tender’s Grip (patent and trademark pending). This was his creative way to label his spirits products while also solving a problem.

The Tender’s Grip is a bottle label that features a textured grip surface. It is designed to enhance a bartender’s grip on a spirit bottle and reduce the number of bottles that unintentionally slip through bartenders’ hands. The label is made using Mactac’s StreetTRAX non-skid, grit-coated pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) film.

Sterlino designs and prints the labels with an HP Latex 315 wide-format printer, has them die-cut, and then uses a combination of hand application and machine techniques to wrap the finished labels to the bottles.

“At first, I worked with my print partners using another product, but the product wouldn’t cut well and was causing the blades to break,” says Sterlino. “One of the very helpful printers introduced me to StreetTRAX, and it worked perfectly. The Tender’s Grip was a huge success within the bartender world and with business/bar owners. I’ve received many calls from bar owners saying that the grip label works great, and they are saving money with Mount Diablo Spirits because other bottles slip through bartenders’ hands.”