Whisky Distillers

One of our biggest successes has been the supply and development of security tagging labels to distillers worldwide. Our achievement in this field has been due to the partnerships formed with all of the major brand manufacturers and distillers within the drinks industry. We believe that through our partnerships nearly all-distilling companies have the ability and knowledge to automatically apply a soft tag (EM and RF or AM if desired) onto the end product during the bottling process.

Glenfiddich was Insights first achievement, taking new application methods from start to finish in partnership with the distiller.

Along the way, there were a few difficulties that required being resolved. The first barrier was what we call “Show” where the thickness of the RF circuit was causing a noticeable indent within the back bottle label.

After liaising with our worldwide partner Checkpoint on this visible problem, they produced the Bottle Integrated Label (BIL).

They devised a sleek new circuit removing each paper element and, placed the circuit on a clear backing carrier. Once applied to the back of the Glenfiddich bottle label you really had to study the unit to notice it, better still, due to the green corporate colour of the glass, the RF Circuit was almost 100% invisible to the consumer.

This was not the only problem we encountered whist source tagging the bottles. It was quickly realised that Glenfiddich used particles of metal in their labeling process. For the source tagging to be effective these had to be removed from their labels, as they would decrease the strength of the signal when they were presented to the RF systems. Subsequently, Glenfiddich worked on re-branding the unit itself to remove the metals from the label process.

Glenfiddich spent a lot time and effort perfecting the product. We asked them why they had such a commitment to getting the source protection right with RF circuits, assuming that they had a major increase in requests for this technology. They answered that they had no increase in demand but were simply looking to support their customers in the future.

Being the leading Independent Malt Whisky Supplier with the most recognised Malt Whisky in the world, they felt they needed to provide their customers with a source tagged product. Whilst source tagging does not directly give advantage to their process in producing the finest malt whisky in the world, it benefits the customer, as all their products will be tagged when they arrive at the point of sale.

Trevor Taylor (Director of Source Tagging) at Insight would particularly like to thank Gerry Scullion of William Grants, Marinus Reiceboar formerly of Checkpoint Systems (now retired) and Phil Nutter European Source Tagging Manager for all of their help during this project.