A local wine and spirits store unveiled a new addition to the interior of the store to the public as it was filmed for a reality show on Animal Planet.
All Star Wine and Spirits in Latham Farms held a special event Friday, Feb. 7, to show the new fish tank it had made for an episode of “Tanked.”
“They do 20 episodes a year and 400 plus tanks. So for this to be that cool, kind of to say, ‘We like this tank well, we love this idea and we’re going to make this part of the TV show,’ is pretty cool,” said storeowner Craig Allen.
The show “Tanked” that airs on Discovery’s Animal Planet follows brothers-in-law Bret Raymer and Wayde King as they make some of the most unique fish tanks in the world. The show, based out of Las Vegas where Raymer and King own their company, Acrylic Tank Manufacturing (ATM), documents the tank making process. The tanks range from 50 to 50,000 gallons in size for businesses and celebrities all over the country.
The crew of the show was there to film the unveiling of the tank and the reaction of the crowd of a few hundred people that packed the store to witness the event. Show fan and Guilderland resident Chris Karmel said, “I definitely watch the show as much as I can. I think the tank was great.”
The 17-foot tall tank looks like a wine bottle and actually has a spout in it that can pour wine when it is connected. The 650-gallon salt-water tank will have 65 exotic fish in it.
Allen said the store already has five fish tanks, but he wanted to another and got hooked-up with the Raymer and Wayde through a friend.
Through the mutual friend, Allen ended up going to Vegas to meet with Raymer and Wade to explain his wine bottle fish tank to them. From there, he met last July with producers from the show and network producers, who all liked the idea of the tank and wanted to make the development of it into an episode.
“I think they’re pretty psyched with the tank and how different it is,” said Allen.
The crowd was able to be part of the filming process and saw how the show was made. The noise from the applause and images of the crowd clapping will likely be on the episode when it airs. There was also free wine tasting with the theme, “Wine under the sea.”
“I really like the shape. I like that it’s a wine bottle,” said Latham resident Kateri Porcelli, who heard about the event in an advertisement.
The show will air as the third episode of the season on March 21 on Animal Planet.