How Dan Aykroyd finally got his skull vodka unbanned from the LCBO(1)

Dan Aykroyd is grinning these days, just like the skull-shaped bottle that contains his bestselling vodka, Crystal Head. The Newfoundland-made spirit was finally launched in Ontario this week, ending a ban that sparked a public outcry in the wake of a column I wrote last year. The actor’s home province had been the only jurisdiction in North America to deny him shelf space, declaring the packaging in violation of the liquor board’s social-responsibility mandate. Mr. Aykroyd, star of such films as Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers, was in Toronto last Thursday to sign bottles at a store, selling 393 skulls (at $59.95 each) in three hours. After shooting a promotional video for his website, he shook out a dozen or so ice cubes from the back of his shirt and sat down with The Globe and Mail at One restaurant in Yorkville.

You keep ice up your shirt?

If I’m working on camera and I start to sweat, I put the ice down my back. I’m a polar bear, man. I’m a Canadian.

What do you think prompted the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s change of heart?

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.

You have a family farm near Kingston, you make wine in Niagara and import Patron Tequila into Canada. Did you play ban-buster by lobbying behind the scenes?

Our office completely refrained from that. I wrote a letter to the PR guy at the LCBO saying, “Look, I love the LCBO. We do business with wine and Patron, and when you take the vodka, it’s going to be great for us all.”

I gather the LCBO asked you to redesign the carton.

We made a little adjustment to the box so the skull wouldn’t be so overt and in your face, which was just fine.

When we spoke last year, the vodka was in every other province and all 50 states. You’ve now sold two million bottles. What’s next?

We are in the United Kingdom, Germany, China, the Caribbean. We’re looking at Australia soon and Mexico and South America. And we’ve got a lot of interest from Russia.

What do your celebrity friends think of Crystal Head?

David Geffen, the producer and music mogul, loves it. Johnny Depp turned Keith Richards on to it. When Keith was still drinking, I sent him a case. Now, he’s stopped consuming alcohol. Jimmy Buffett likes it. So does Lorne Michaels, the producer of Saturday Night Live. Jay-Z, I’ve heard, loves the bottle and loves the vodka.

[1] [2]