Have you seen our new labels?
A very humble, crafty start
The distillery opened a week before Christmas 2019 (a few months before the pandemic) – after years of working to set up Aberdeen’s Distillery, we couldn’t wait to get open.
We were elated to open our doors - our labels, while iconic (to us at least), had strong elements of craft: they were manually hand stamped with ink pads and hand written with a calligraphy pen along with batch, abv and signature which were also hand written. We are proud of every bottle of gin we make and so this process, while very rewarding, was about as a far from retail-ready as you could be.
Early in 2020 we set to work on the next version of our labels.
The second edition
Our second set of label designs introduced photos of botanicals that could be found in the gin and we used colours to help our customers recognise the specific gin at a glance. We had lots of fun taking the photos and the labels were now consistent over the collection with each gin being distinct in both style of imagery and colours.
The labels are clean, simple, and functional. As we have built and grown the business we feel it’s time for a brand new look to reflect where we are now.
However, our next iteration of labels really needed to introduce a recognisable identity and add some exciting flair.
Our mission
We set out with a mission – to examine all of our gin labels and come up with a distinct new style that was consistent across our full range of products while visually communicating the spirit of the adventure, authenticity and experience of flavour that can be found in our range of Aberdeen Gins.
We love to be creative, to adapt to challenges and evolve to become better than we were yesterday.
How did we evolve the design?
Strawberry Gin is the first to feature our new label design.
The background style - firstly we have to take our hats off to local design agency FortyTwo Studio (based here in Aberdeen) and all those involved who created our overall brand styling. We felt their work on our brand really hit the spot.
We decided not to reinvent something that was already brilliant, and instead incorporated this artwork/styling into the brand new bottle design.
The colour – we liked how the colours allowed each bottle to be identified more easily – so we took that to the next level – the background colour of each label not only works with the colour of the liquid inside the bottle but often pays tribute to the ingredients used in the gin.
The background label of Strawberry Gin is a sand colour – more accurately a straw/hay colour – as hay is used to protect strawberries while they grow.
The typography - the colour of the text used will often reflect what is in the bottle e.g. red for Strawberry Gin, light yellow for Fresh Gin, purple for Bramble Gin etc…
We use one word for the type of gin so you can tell what is in each gin with ease. We have quite a few products in our range and we felt it would be great if someone could quickly scan the range and lock onto a gin that would be most suitable.
In the case of our fruit gins - we wanted to emphasise it was a true gin (and not a sub 37.5% ABV fruit liqueur). So we brought up the ABV to a premium position - ABV is often an important factor when looking to purchase an alcoholic beverage.
A Hero image - to supplement the background artwork as designed by FortyTwo Studio, we wanted a clear way for you to recognise what each gin was about and have an instant connection with i.e. you shouldn’t need to pull your specs down to the end of your nose and read the fine print to discover what a gin is about.
Each bottle features a large hand drawn illustration - a unique piece of artwork created specifically for each gin expression and you won’t find anywhere else.
You’ll also notice that the image bursts outside of the container of the label – we wanted to demonstrate that all of our gins are busting with flavour – waiting for you to release it….into your glass.
Discovery – how many times have you looked at a bottle and thought “I’m not sure if I want it, but I’m not wanting to pick up every bottle in the shop to learn more about each one…”. We’ve solved this problem by including a brief description on the front of each bottle – so you can easily discover what the drink is all about.
On the reverse of the label you’ll also find out about the distillery, which batch of gin you’re enjoying and a QR code (we all know how to use these now) which takes you to our website where you can learn more about the gin you are enjoying - useful if you've been gifted a gin and you'd like to know more about Aberdeen's Distillery.
Available in a range of sizes
Strawberry Gin is available in a range of sizes (70cl / 50cl / 20cl / miniature)
Aromatically fruity Scottish Strawberries, smooth pepper from Grains of Paradise, earthy sweetness of Ginseng, and the traditional gin botanicals all combine to make this vivifying gin. Lively, uplifting and distilled in the heart of Aberdeen.
