ABOUT

What needed doing
Ian Hart produces artisinal gin from his micro distillery at his home in Highgate, London extracting distinctive botanical flavours to make a gin so good that it has won the International Gin Master competition. Sacred Gin’s USP and inspiration comes from the use of Boswellia Sacra – a special type of frankincense – in the botanical blend.

But Ian was having trouble cracking the premium market, and finding it hard to communicate his unique brand story, and needed help crafting it for wider audiences.

How we went about it
Our brief was to create a platform for growth by designing a distinctive, premium brand and new packaging for the range, that communicates the brand story and creates back-bar stand-out.

The legendary Highgate Cemetery’s gates formed the focal point, for our solution, and to celebrate the gin’s botanical complexity, we added lots of layers of detailing to tell the Sacred story and make its provenance shine through. We topped the gates with a crusaders’ cross, as they first brought frankinsense from the Holy Land. The nightingales of Highgate wood are entwined in the gates, and the hinges are pen nibs, referencing Highgate’s literary links and Hilary’s journalism career. Ian’s mark is there in the hearts that adorn the crown surrounding the Sacred name, and even the label is cut at the bottom to suggest precious drops collecting in the still.

For the word marque, we developed bespoke typography and built in filigree serifs found in religious ironmongery, featuring the snake’s head to represents the serpent which legend says protects the frankincense tree.

We brought this together in a label that breaks category norms, whilst the bottom label incorporates an area for a unique bottle number, to further enhance the ‘handcrafted’ feel – key to the brand’s strategy.

And we didn’t stop there. - we designed a new website for Sacred based around a storytelling theme and with a magical scrolling home page, which takes visitors on a journey through Highgate, the distillation process and the brand.

Since the launch of the new identity and packaging The Sacred Distillery has gone from strength to strength, with sales increasing at a staggering +77% and the brand transforming from a cottage industry to a major player in the international artisan spirits market. Global distribution has increased by +3.5 times, expanding the range into Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, China and the U.S. Of course, we still like to regularly continue our Sacred ‘research’ with a large G&T on a Friday night after work!

What our client said
‘Working alongside Elmwood is 
an extremely positive experience and we have been very impressed with the team’s dedication to 
our business.

It is no easy task to come up with 
a new image for a small high-end brand without losing the sense 
that it is an authentic hand-produced product.’

Results
Sacred spirits are now firm fixtures in many of the UK’s most prestigious bars, including the highly acclaimed Dabbous (with six-month waiting lists) and Churchill bar. Plus, the redesign has opened the buyers’ doors at high-end retailers like Selfridges, The Conran Shop and Harrods, which previously remained firmly closed.