You've probably seen Crystal Head Vodka before. After all, it's hard to miss. But there's
more to Crystal Head Vodka than its funky bottle. From its history to accolades, this
is the inside story of this unique celebrity-owned spirit.
In 1975, a 22-year-old Canadian joined the writing room of an upcoming comedy sketch
show called "Saturday Night Live." Dan Aykroyd's starring role on what would become one of
the most popular comedies on television kicked off a successful career, eventually leading
him to act in the 1984 classic, "Ghostbusters."
In 1992, Aykroyd turned his attention to business and founded the House of Blues concert hall
and restaurant chain, and he later became interested in spirits. Per the BBC, Aykroyd
first focused on getting Patron tequila imported to Canada, before starting his own liquor
company. Crystal Head makes high-quality vodka, but its success has been boosted in part thanks
to Aykroyd's celebrity status. Holly Wyatt, managing partner of Kinetic Brands, told the
BBC,
"When Aykroyd launched it, it was cool because it was him."
When Dan Aykroyd began working with spirits, his future business partner was involved with
spirits of another kind. According to Drink Spirits, Aykroyd's friend John Alexander had
been attending the annual Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico for several years, and
the holiday tradition celebrating the ghosts of deceased relatives provided the perfect
springboard for Crystal Head Vodka's now-iconic bottle. Aykroyd explained the mythic symbolism
of the skull-shaped container in an interview with Haute Living, saying,
"The Crystal Head skull bottle concept derives from a spiritual place — in legend the Aztec,
Mayan, and Navajo tribes each possessed a crystal skull which they used primarily for
scrying [...] This was to serve the well-being of their people. Power through sacred purity."
Aykroyd explained that the careful ingredients and manufacturing processes used in his vodka
line are meant to reflect this dedication to, and appreciation of, purity.
Though Dan Aykroyd started the Crystal Head Vodka business, John Alexander was the mastermind
behind the design. Alexander is a visual artist who works in a variety of mediums, predominantly
painting. His work has been featured all over the world in private collections and esteemed
museums like the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Houston Museum of Fine
Art.
When he turned his attention to the crystal skull, it took him two years to perfect it.
Luckily, he had the help of Bruni Glass, a packaging manufacturing company originally
based in Milan, Italy, to perfect the iconic bottle.
"It all began with our iconic crystal clear skull-shaped bottle."
In 2010, just a few years after Crystal Head's release, Ontario banned sales of the vodka
across the province. A Liquor Control Board of Ontario spokesman told The Globe and Mail,
"The image of the human skull is the thing that's really problematic for us [...] That's
an image that's commonly associated with death. It's especially problematic at a time when
there are concerns around binge drinking by younger adults, which in some cases unfortunately
has resulted in alcohol poisoning."
Crystal Head Vodka was still able to be sold in restaurants and bars, but consumers couldn't
buy the skull-shaped bottles in stores. Aykroyd defended the skull, telling The Globe and
Mail,
"It's not a menacing head. It doesn't have crossbones under it."
Luckily the ban didn't last long. In 2011, just a year after it was put in place, the
LCBO revoked their ban and Crystal Head was released on shelves across the province. As
for how Dan Aykroyd managed to get his product into Ontario liquor stores, he had some help
from Crystal Head fans. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Aykroyd said,
"The public basically started a kind of letter-writing and Web campaign to ask why it was not available
[...] The consumer really pulled it through for us."
Crystal Head Vodka outdid itself in 2020 when it released the first commercially available
agave vodka. Dubbed "Crystal Head Onyx," the spirit is made using Blue Weber Agave that
comes from one particular Mexican farm, resulting in a fresh and consistent taste in all bottles.
The agave, which is typically used in tequila, gives the vodka a subtle flavor, both spicy
and sweet. Like most Crystal Head products, the bottle is its own work of art. The Crystal
Head Onyx bottle is a black version of the glass head, symbolizing the Onyx crystal for
which it's named. Aykroyd told Food & Beverage Magazine,
"With Onyx, we wanted to make an innovative liquid, an agave-based vodka, with an equally
imaginative bottle to match."
"Onyx is unlike anything you have tasted before, and people are loving it."
The quality and flavor of Crystal Head Vodka has garnered praise across the world, and
Aykroyd's diamond-infused processing techniques have received acclaim and helped the brand
stand out from the crowd.
At the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2011, over 200 vodkas competed for awards,
but only a few brands, including Crystal Head, took home the prestigious Double Gold Medal.
The following year, Crystal Head's success continued at the Australian Liquor Industry
Awards. The vodka company won two highly coveted awards in the New Product of the Year and
the Luxury Spirits categories. The competition was fierce Down Under, with popular brands
like Jack Daniel's and Johnnie Walker battling for international acclaim.
In May of 2011, a Crystal Head Vodka warehouse in California was robbed. The thieves disappeared
with over 21,000 bottles of vodka, leading to many logistical questions as to how and
where the vodka could have gone. Even stranger was Dan Aykroyd's reaction to the news, which
he described to TMZ as "distressed and elated." Somehow, Aykroyd was able to keep a sense
of humor about the ordeal, and said in a statement,
"My partners and I are sorry to lose this much vodka to theft and do not condone criminal
activity in any fashion. But we are happy that some consumers will be afforded the opportunity
of tasting it at significantly lower than retail price."
The intricate process behind Crystal Head vodka starts with one simple ingredient: peaches
and cream corn. From there, the product is distilled and mixed with pure water that comes
from Newfoundland, Canada. Crystal Head filters their vodka seven times to ensure their product's
purity, and part of this process entails mixing the vodka with Herkimer diamonds.
Herkimer diamonds are a kind of quartz crystal that have been around for some five hundred
million years. After World War II, vodka manufacturers began filtering vodka using charcoal instead
of wood products, which had been the preferred method up until then. From there, it was a
short jump to diamonds, which are the compressed version of charcoal. And diamonds, of course,
sound a little more refined than charcoal, making it an excellent marketing venture for
vodka distillers.
With vodka, it's easy to make delicious cocktails with pretty much anything you have lying around.
But for Dan Aykroyd, the best way to drink Crystal Head is to let the vodka itself shine,
without muddying the clear, sharp flavor with mixers or syrups. Aykroyd told Vine Pair,
"I'll take 2.5 ounces of the Head, shaken, up in a Martini glass with a little shavings
of ice in there. Add a twist, and prior to the pour, just a rinse of really fine white
vermouth."
Though traditional martinis are made with gin, vodka martinis have risen in popularity,
and once you try it with Crystal Head, you just might become a convert. But if martinis
aren't your favorite, Aykroyd recommends sipping the vodka neat in a chilled shot glass or
mixing it into a Cosmopolitan by shaking it with white cranberry juice, elderberry syrup,
and an egg white.
Though Aykroyd comes off as a laid-back kind of guy, even he won't stand by while someone
steals his product design. In 2019, Crystal Head's parent company, Globefill, sued a Mexican
tequila maker for trademark infringement, according to the Chicago Tribune. The rival
tequila bottle design was described as, per the lawsuit,
"A crystal bottle with the stylized form of a masked human head that resembles a masked
man."
The lawsuit Aykroyd's company filed claimed that confusion between the two bottles was
all but guaranteed, stating that there were only two skull-shaped liquor bottles on the
market, and only one should remain. In 2017, a similar lawsuit was filed, a battle Crystal
Head Vodka easily won, according to McHattie Law. The trial featured consumers making claims
about whether or not the two skull bottles were confusingly similar. Based on the verdict,
it appears they were.
In 2013, Crystal Head Vodka was named the official vodka for The Rolling Stones' 50th
Anniversary Worldwide celebration. Aykroyd told Stockhouse of this match made in heaven,
"Crystal Head honoring the Stones in this way makes perfect sense: The Stones make great
music with passion and creativity — and Crystal Head makes great vodka the same way."
Their 50th Anniversary Worldwide Tour brought together fans of all ages as they traveled
across the U.S. with several dates in the U.K., ultimately exposing a lot of Stones
fans to this premium vodka.
In 2008, Aykroyd was hard at work perfecting what would become his renowned Crystal Head
Vodka. Unbeknownst to Aykroyd, Steven Spielberg was at the same time putting the finishing
touches on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Once he realized, Aykroyd
told Empire Australia,
"I didn't want him to think that I was ripping him off."
In an effort to avoid any awkwardness, he called Spielberg to explain that it was mere
coincidence that caused their similar ideas. According to Aykroyd, Spielberg wasn't concerned,
as the actor revealed,
"He said, 'Had I known you were working on this, I would have had it at the premier of
our movie!'"
Unfortunately, Indiana Jones didn't have much of a premier, and it was too late to market
the two products together. Still, Aykroyd was relieved to have Spielberg's support.
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