Louisville-based Rabbit Hole Distillery produces their own recipes of one-of-a-kind super premium American whiskey. The firm partners with Independent 2—whose capabilities include designing, manufacturing, warehousing, and delivering corrugated and packaging—to come up with the extraordinary shipping cases that help sell this unique brand. Independent 2 relies on a Domino X630i digital aqueous ink-jet corrugated press to get the job done. Dac Austin, creative director of Rabbit Hole Distillery, describes the partnership his firm has established with Independent 2 as something very special indeed.
“Each of our whiskeys has its own grain recipe that’s not like anything else on the market,” says Austin. “One of the things that’s necessary for what I do is having a partner that has the ability to do modifications quickly, efficiently, and in real time. One of the relationships that we’ve built is one with Independent 2, who is our shipping case provider. Their responsiveness is excellent, and that really resonates with what we do and what we’re able to produce.”
Austin points to a corrugated shipping case produced at Independent 2 for Rabbit Hole’s Dareringer Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey as Exhibit A. “This is an example of some of the work that we’ve done,” he says. “The clarity, the color, and the product are all outstanding. You think about the digital application on a corrugated product. We are able to make edits with color, with typography… and see it within minutes. If we were to do this in a conventional manner, we would have had to shut down the press, take the plates off, remake the plates, reapply the ink, and wait for hours for this to happen.”
Austin further explains the benefits of digital printing. “All I had to do for this was create a new file, run it through the Domino X630i digital aqueous inkjet corrugated press, and it’s instantaneous. There’s no mixing of inks, there’s no wipe-up or clean-up for the machinery. It’s just moving the board through, and it works effectively and efficiently. It shows the merger of the digital and corrugated worlds.” PW
