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story Maureen Scott Dan Aykroyd achieved international fame as one of the Blues Brothers and as one of the Ghost Busters, but these days he’s making a name for himself in the ultra premium vodka business. If you’ve been to your local LCBO store lately, you may have noticed a skull-shaped bottle of Crystal Head Vodka. Dan Aykroyd is the co-creator and head proprietor of this pure vodka. “My role is to be the roving ambassador, the mouthpiece and main educator, to work with importers, hotel and restaurant chains and retail liquour executives in the U.S. and Canada,” says Aykroyd, speaking from his home in Pacific Palisades, California. “If I can use my fading celebrity to educate consumers and share my passion, then I will. I am having so much fun. And at my age (59) if I can’t have fun, I might as well go and plough snow!” It’s hard to say what is more fascinating—the story of how Dan Aykroyd and his partners set out to create a pure, additive-free vodka using the clear glacier waters of Newfoundland or the tale behind the skull-shaped bottle. The inspiration for the bottle is the ancient legend of the 13 crystal skulls. Famous for its claim to paranormal phenomena, the legend inspired the fourth Indiana Jones movie Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). “I heard about the legend a long time ago in the ‘70s when I was reading about South American history.” says Dan. “The bottle was designed by my very good friend and business partner, one of America’s greatest portrait artists, John Alexander.” He said it was designed to depict the Mitchell-Hedges skull, which was discovered by Anna Mitchell-Hedges in 1924 in Lubantuun, in Belize. “It is the only pretty one. Some are cloudy green or orange and not so pretty,” says Dan. “Although I have never seen one of the heads, I have spoken to people who have seen the Mitchell-Hedges skull and they told me that when they saw it, a feeling of warmth and well being came over them.” The controversial archaeological legend states that the heads, which are estimated to be between 5,000 and 35,000 years old, appear to have been “polished” into shape from solid chunks of quartz over a period of several hundred years. “Engineers at Hewlett Packard took a look at the Mitchell-Hedges skull and determined that it had been polished. They could find no sign of a tool being used,” says Dan. “The heads are believed to offer spiritual power and enlightenment to anyone who possesses them and, therefore, the skulls are symbols of enlightenment and life—not of death.” It took two years to develop the uniquely shaped bottles, which are produced in England by Milan-based Bruni Glass. Then they are shipped to the Crystal Head Vodka distillery in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Dan has a wealth of knowledge in the spirit business. He is part owner of the company that has exclusive distribution rights to Patron tequila in Canada. Involved in the wine industry for many years, Dan teamed up with Diamond Estate Wines & Spirits to create the Dan Aykroyd Signature Reserve Series (super-premium offerings) as well as the Dan Aykroyd Discovery Series (mid-priced). The first wine released under his name was his Signature Reserve VQA Niagara Peninsula Vidal Ice wine 2005. This past year Crystal Head Vodka rocked the spirit world by winning the 2011 Double Gold award in the San Francisco World Spirit Competition, beating out over 200 other like spirits. “My partners and I did some research and found that fairly common to the industry was the fact that some companies were adding things like glycol, citrus oils and raw sugar to their vodka – you don’t need more sugar in alcohol,” says Dan. “We created a pure, stripped down, additive-free vodka and then held our breath to see what happened.” “We were validated!” says Dan. “The judges said our vodka has notes of sweet vanilla that’s crisp with a quick hit off the finish. Let’s not hide the peaches and cream sweetness from corn grown in St. Thomas, Ontario. That’s why we’ve sold 2 million bottles in North America. And even though people are buying the bottles and filling them with sand or Reese’s Pieces, adding rhinestones and using them as art projects, we got to that level of sales by people returning to buy the product for the cleaned up taste.” Dan attributes the award-winning taste to the pure glacial Newfoundland water and the quadruple distilling process. “Some vodkas are distilled seven or eight times and have no taste. Our vodka is distilled four times. The final step is to pour the alcohol over Herkimer quartz crystals, which gives it a natural satiny smoothness. Using the crystals is the psychic touch. The crystals only bubble to the earth’s surface in a few places in the world and one of them is in Herkimer, New York. That area has been a hot bed for extraterrestrial activity. My theory is that extraterrestrials come down to the area which looks all sparkly due to the crystals. You can go into a farmer’s field there and harvest crystals all day long.” Dan’s Crystal Head Vodka is sold in almost 15 countries around the world, but ironically it was banned in his home province of Ontario. Consumers, anxious to get their hands on the vodka, began a letter and email campaign. “The consciousness of the LCBO was in protecting its customers to make sure the glass bottle held up, and they wanted to gage the product’s success in the U.S.” explains Dan. “They were also concerned with the death image and through the education process we were able to help them see the head as we see it, as a sign of enlightenment. We compromised and changed the box slightly so the skull wasn’t quite so in your face. I’ve visited liquour stores around the world and I love the LCBO and wanted to see our product there. It’s a new consumer experience—a step up when you want to treat yourself.” Crystal Head hit the shelves in 70 LCBO stores last October (it’s now carried by 473 stores), generating $750,000 in sales in a period of about a month and a half. That’s according to Chris Layton, Media Relations Coordinator, Corporate Communications Spokesperson for the LCBO. “With some new marketing strategy which put more emphasis on the premium quality of the product more than its packaging, and the fact that it won a Double Gold in Spirits, the focus was a good fit for us,” says Chris. “Crystal Head is one of the purest vodkas you can buy. The launch was one of our strongest spirit launches in our history. Dan Aykroyd signed the 400 bottles in two hours.” Kenton Tasker, Sales and Marketing Director for Crystal Head Vodka & Patron Spirits says early sales have far exceeded expectations. “We have purchase orders from the LCBO for 8,000 cases of six 750 bottles in the first month and a half since the launch.” More than 2 million bottles of Crystal Head Vodka have been sold in North America, as of late fall 2011. Priced at $59.95 for a 750ml bottle, Crystal Head Vodka competes with other ultra premium vodkas in its class, such as Stolichnaya-Elit “Stoli” from Russia, which retails at $69.60. Ironically, Dan Aykroyd is about to sell his vodka to the Russians on their own turf. “We’ve had some interest from Russia—the land of vodka,” says Dan. “This is the kind of vodka they can appreciate. It’s not junk. And they like the package.” It’s a vodka inspired by a legend that may soon become one itself. For more information visit crystalheadvodka.com.

ABOVE Dan Aykroyd holds a bottle of his award-winning, ultra-premium Crystal Head Vodka. The bottle design is based on ancient legend. Dan says the skulls “are symbols of enlightenment and life - not death.” The ultra pure vodka won the Double Gold Award at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirit Competition.