There’s a certain kind of object that stops being a container and becomes a conversation piece, and Crystal Head Vodka is exactly that. Molded into the shape of a human skull, right down to the teeth and cranial ridges, it’s the sort of bottle that gets picked up off the shelf, turned around a few times, and set back down with a quiet “huh.”
The brand leans hard into its mythology, drawing on skull legends and the idea of clarity, both literal and symbolic. It was conceived and founded by actor Dan Aykroyd and artist John Alexander in September 2008, and Aykroyd is the majority owner of Globefill Inc., the company behind the brand. Alexander designed the bottle based on the pair’s shared fascination with the legend of the thirteen crystal skulls.
The Canada connection runs deep, and it’s not just marketing gloss. Crystal Head is manufactured by Globefill at the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation’s distillery, called Rock Spirits, in Newfoundland. Sweet corn grown in the Chatham-Kent region of Ontario is processed and distilled four times to produce a neutral grain spirit, which is then reduced with Newfoundland water to 40% alcohol by volume. Aykroyd has talked about chasing that Newfoundland water specifically for its purity, tracing it back to glacial aquifers that never suffered the acid rain damage that hit other parts of the continent decades ago.
The glass itself is left undecorated — no printed label wrapping the skull, just clean crystal that lets the vodka show through completely. It’s filtered seven times, three of those passes through Herkimer diamond crystals, which fits the whole “purity” branding a little too perfectly, in a fun way.
Practically speaking, it’s a smooth, neutral vodka — nothing wild in the taste department, which is sort of the point. The bottle is doing most of the talking. Once it’s empty, it doesn’t get recycled like a normal bottle; it gets kept. Repurposed as decor, a candle holder, a plant vase, or just left on a shelf catching light, which is probably how most of these end up living out their second life.
There’s something fitting about a “clarity” bottle shaped like a skull sitting on a shelf. Memento mori dressed up as a party favor.
Cheers, and stay curious.
