Eden Whisky

brand design, packaging, website, social media

* with Story & Brand

Tasmanian Whisky is abundant, easily available and popular with consumers the world over. On the surface, it appears that every man and his dog are giving it a go; however, few are as proficient as Eden Whisky.

The distillery is nestled in the spectacular foothills of “kunanyi” (Mount Wellington) and encompass the ‘spirit of the mountain’. Eden whisky’s flavour is the result of terroir; a three-dimensional fusion of surrounding soil, favourable microclimate, and the right topography. Combine these ingredients with pure snow melt from local rivers, and a premium product is born.

This uniqueness required an innovative approach to design which would disrupt the whisky category, and would instil in the consumer a burning desire to taste the product.

A poem was composed by the Story & Brand Team which details the ‘spirit of the mountain’, and these words were the foundation and inspiration for the rest of the design.

Local Hobart artist Sam Lyne was commissioned to create 8 wonderful, quirky, and whimsical drawings to illustrate and match a line of the poem.

Our greatest – and most innovative – challenge came in the form of label design. Eden Whisky is a boutique distillery with varieties of different cask types and sizes. The challenge posed was that these labels needed to be “generic” in nature to cater for all of the differences encountered while not costing a fortune to print. 

The decision was made that the majority of the casks could fit into six different label variations. These variations have matching names and illustrations, with the poem on the neck label ‘highlighting’ the line of the poem which relates to the illustration. Everything else would be generic. The ‘side tab’ was designed allowing specific differences to be hand written. These labels were designed as a standard navy label, a metallic gold label (for special releases), and a series of other colours chosen for their potential future use.

Fitting and aligning information onto the label required some sensitive finessing of the typography; especially the neck tag, where the poem is positioned perfectly within two columns thanks to line-by-line kerning.

For Eden Whisky, online sales are imperative. To hit the ground running, an ecommerce website, social media presence, informational newsletter and email marketing were required in a timely manner.

With time of the essence, and excited by the challenge, I went to work designing and building a Shopify website (this was entirely new to me). Next was the task of creating a ‘simple’ video for the page header – which introduces the delightful poem and stunning illustrations to visitors of the page. 

The website is simple and ‘minimalistic’ in nature, where you can easily navigate to the “about us” and find out more about the philosophies of the Eden Whisky brand on the home page. Highlighted front and centre on the home page are the two ‘feature’ bottles of Eden Whisky for sale. These make for ease of navigation for the customer without any unnecessary distractions. For those that prefer the traditional method, there are links to product pages on the header menu. Both the contact us and newsletter signup forms are embedded HubSpot forms, with the newsletter form acting as a landing page for the social media ads.

Eden Whisky launched at The Story Bar at MACq01. Due to small cask size, there were just a handful of bottles to sell (many customers already wanting to buy) and a full invitation list for the small venue. For marketing purposes, the Story & Brand Team designed an exclusive email invitation to the launch, with links to the website for purchase of these first releases with ‘first access.’  

The Story & Brand Team instigated a two-pronged attack for a social media blitz. First, Eden Whisky product was in short supply (this would ramp up in the future), the decision was made to increase subscriber numbers to the Eden Whisky newsletter by the way of a targeted advertising and marketing campaign. Another incentive was to offer “$10 off” the price of a bottle of Eden Whisky to entice customers to subscribe. The campaign was a remarkable success, with increased subscribers, followers, and sales of Eden Whisky products.

The second angle was two-fold: increase momentum, maintain excitement for the upcoming launch, and release the stunning, and gorgeous branding of Eden Whisky in front of the paying public. The plan of attack consisted of an eight-post, social media countdown, showcasing illustrations, while providing only a sneak peek. The results speak for themselves – prior to the launch all of Eden Whisky product was sold!

As time continues and more whisky is produced, the social media strategy has become one of release announcements, brand awareness and holiday celebrations with eden whisky. The established brand visuals and elements have made designing these graphics joyous.

check out Eden Whisky here