The Ouk-rra-i-nah Story by Warren Metzler Table of Contents
11. What's in a label?
Then there was the issue regarding the labels that would be on the bottles I imported. If you are unfamiliar with alcohol beverage importing or manufacturing here in the US, you may not realize how particular the US Federal government is regarding labels on alcoholic beverage bottles. Examples are the height of the letters that describe certain information, exactly what names can be used, and that the “Government Warning” title of the health warning has to be a bolder text than the rest of the words in the health warning. Until you receive Federal government label approval, US Customs will not allow your product to enter the US.
I was aware of the label approval requirement before I went to Zhitomir. And as a result had communicated its significance to Igor. I had told him he needed to inform Vlad I wanted to meet with a graphic artist in Zhitomir. I would communicate to the artist all the required elements so he could create an English language label that fitted those requirements, and then the approved labels would be on all the bottles I imported.
But that Thursday afternoon, soon after we began to discuss the label issue, I realized Igor had not impressed on Vlad the importance of this situation. Furthermore, Vlad informed me the graphic arts company the Zhitomir factory used to create its labels was in a city situated 300 kilometers (approximately 185 miles) to the west; and he, Vlad, knew of no graphic artist in Zhitomir. But after a bit of dialogue, during which I impressed upon Vlad the gravity of the situation, he remembered a local graphic artist, and we went off to see that person.
We arrived at what appeared to be an apartment building, climbed two flights of stairs in a stairwell with no lights, and entered what looked like an apartment. But once past the entrance door, I could see every room was furnished like an office. Welcome to the Ukraine I thought. I was told this was the Scherzo printing company.
We were then directed to a room in which there were several computer stations and I felt at home. It was just like the offices of all the graphic artists I had visited back in the US. Once in that room I was introduced to a person by the name of Alexander Kovalevsky. And a nice surprise; Alexander spoke English. He had even been to the US, having gone there three years prior to learn certain modern printing techniques. Alex sat in front of his computer. I sat next to him, and he proceeded to open the file they had from the Zhitomir vodka factory. Soon the current labels were on the screen, and Alexander asked me what changes I would like to make. I offered a few suggestions, and he realized I wanted a major design change. Whereupon he told me that he is not a graphic artist, he is a printing pre-press graphics person.
I was stunned. What was I to do? But then an idea appeared. I asked Alexander if I could send him label files from the US, and he could then use those files to create the printed labels the factory would place on the bottles. He replied that could definitely occur.
I felt great. I could take a sample bottle back with me to the States, have the graphic artist there create the labels, obtain label approval; and once I received label approval, send a copy of the label files on a CD to Scherzo in Zhitomir, and the labels the vodka factory then placed on the bottles would be exactly what was approved by the US government. The best part of this possibility for me was that I could have my graphic artist in the US design the labels. I have had many things custom-designed in the past, and each time numerous adjustments occurred before a desirable product happened. Those inevitable adjustments for these labels would be far more effectively accomplished if I used an artist who lived near me, and we were able to conduct in-person dialogues.
Once the label situation was handled, there was one more item to accomplish, visit the place where the spiritus was made. That facility was in a village named Chudnov, located about an hour’s drive to the southwest of Zhitomir. And the next morning, Friday, Igor and I went to Chudnov and toured the plant.
You can see pictures of this plant, with accompanying written descriptions of the spiritus making process, on the Chudnov photo tour segment of this web site.