Hot foil delivers look for new bourbon

Hopes & Dreams uses satirical branding to take up what it sees as ‘stereotypical handcrafted whiskey marketing’. Hopes & Dreams publicizes itself with intentionally underwhelming pull quotes, such as ‘Meh’ and ‘It’s good… enough’.

The bottle features a vintage-look, Wild West-style label. The API hot stamping foil forms the Hopes & Dreams lettering, provides a double-line trim around the perimeter and features on two ‘seals of approval’ that boast ‘Unlimited release’.

The label was designed by Dallas, Texas-based Chad Michael Studio, and the eponymous Chad Michael explained: ‘I selected the Copper Kettle foil because of its stand-out, gorgeous tone, which had an authenticity that paired nicely with the label design. As the entire brand is about a “boilerplate” bourbon that has been “machine-crafted”, the glamor of the foil might seem ironic – but of course, even a satirical bottle has to look great.’

The foil is printed onto the label by Clove St. Press using an Original Heidelberg press and a copper plate.

Michael continued: ‘The printer told us the API foil laid down beautifully against our rather toothy paperstock selection. From start to finish, the whole job ran very smoothly, with no setbacks encountered, which is testament to the quality of API’s service and product.’