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It’s official: 2017 is all about rum. From classic formulas to bottles that tinker with its time-tested blueprint, here are our current favorites.

PAC, Packaging Consortium, developed its PAC Global Leadership Awards to celebrate excellence in all formats of packaging, in branding and graphic design, in technical aspects and in sustainability. The contest gives industry-based, peer recognition. This is part two of two of the Global Leadership Awards coverage.

Duston Evans was skeptical when his attorney and friend Patrick Johnson first suggested they get into the craft distilling business together. There is a lot of competition for shelf space at liquor stores. Then the Littleton City Council adopted an ordinance in November 2013 clarifying a portion of its municipal code and opening the door for breweries, distilleries and wineries with tasting rooms to locate in the city’s business zones — and Evans got to thinking.

If there's one thing the 2016 election season has done, it's driven us to drink...and drink…and drink. Luckily, there are plenty of new distilleries across the country to drown our sorrows in a well-crafted tipple. Here, some of our favorites.

With award-winning pours and a vintage Americana vibe, Rocker Spirits is a destination-worthy distillery. Each and every bottle of Rocker Spirits is emblazoned with the words, “Forged with passion, infused with American spirit.” And nothing embodies that spirit more than the bottle itself.

My impression of the Rocker Spirits taproom, distilled into a few words: rugged yet classy, manly yet inviting to all. The distillery, located a few blocks off Littleton’s Main Street at 5587 South Hill Street, feels like an elegant makerspace for spirits and cocktails.

Evans has been self-employed since he was 27 years old and, he says, drinking whiskey for more than a decade longer than that. When construction -- in which he owns three companies -- started to become less enjoyable, friends suggested that he start a distillery.

Rocker Spirits, Littleton’s first and only micro distillery, has been a regional hot spot since its opening in August of 2016. The classy, yet rugged atmosphere is inviting to all crowds, and its creativity has earned it global recognition. In 2017, Rocker earned the PAC Packaging Consortium Global Leadership Award for its “rocking” liquor bottles, which were modeled after a 1930’s oil can.

You can have a beer flight, but can you have a cocktail flight? Yes, because that’s what we did for this episode! From punk rocker to bar manager, John Stefanski knows his spirits.

Rocker Spirits, owned by Dustin Evans, Patrick Johnson, and Breckenridge Distillery alum Nick Hutch, launched last week in a converted garage at 5587 South Hill Street, BusinessDen reported. The space, which can accommodate some 60 guests, features car bumpers parked on the walls, steel beams on the bar, and a heavy hook and chain that mimics a chandelier.

What other show can you talk to brewers, and a kombucha maker live from a local Colorado distillery? We’re live from Rocker Spirits in Littleton Colorado! This is local, this is whiskey, this is delicious! with chef Chito Arreola, La Xochitl Burger and Tacos, Trubucha, and Locavore Beer Works!

Driven by the desire for a unique brand vision, Rocker Spirits, a micro-distillery based in Littleton, Colorado, worked with glass container manufacturer O-I to create a bottle that rocks, both literally and figuratively. Together, the teams created a one-of-a-kind design that conveys Rocker’s distinctive identity at first glance.

Duston Evans describes himself as “a blue collar guy that loves the industrial era and the vintage Americana look and feel of creating something with your own two hands.” During the process of opening Rocker Spirits, he knew he wanted to incorporate the classic industrial era into the distillery’s brand identity so he hatched the idea of a custom bottle that resembles a vintage oil can. “I wanted to create something unique, a bottle that people could interact with,” Evans said.