Keeping a grip on a bottle can be a challenge for a bartender, especially if their hands are wet, the bottle is slippery, or the shape of the bottle prevents a good grip. Dustin Sterlino, co-owner of Mount Diablo Distillery in Antioch, California, decided to tackle this problem with a unique, high-quality solution for enhancing bartenders’ grip.
In 2018, Dustin Sterlino along with 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 would need to set him apart from the competition and deliver customers something truly unique and exciting. So, he developed a brand built on humor and high quality, marketing the benefits of being a small business with a local following. Additionally, he came up with a highly creative way to label the spirits products. Working with a few local printers, Sterlino created what he called the “Bartender’s or Tender’s Grip.” (Patent and trademark pending)
The Tender’s Grip is a unique 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 from the bartenders’ hands. It is made with Mactac’s StreetTRAX® non-skid, grit-coated pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) film, which allows images and designs to be printed directly on the film’s grit-coated surface. 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 apply and machine techniques to wrap the finished labels to the bottles.
“The Tender’s Grip was a huge success within the bartender world and with business/bar owners,” says Sterlino. “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.”
