28/01/2023
Chapter 4
The art of whisky labelling (Part 1)
Well, if you read my previous chapters, you already know about my passion for arts and illustrations in general, and about my penchant for whisky bottles labels…
In this chapter, I will tell you, briefly, about a few whiskies that over the years captured my attention and made my shortlist here. Not only for their spirit’s and tasting merits, but also for the virtues of their labels and illustrations.
Please bear in mind this is only Part 1 of this format, which will continue in the next chapters…
Let’s begin. (Their order is purely random…)
1. That Boutique-y Whisky Company
Owned by Atom Brands, the company behind the already successful Master of Malt, TBWC is a sister company, established in 2012. Their goal is sourcing and bottling (“in a fun way”, as they say) only the best single casks (single malts and grains, sometimes as blends) selected around the world by the founders.
Quoting from their website description: “Every numbered bottle is adorned with a hand-illustrated label drawn by Emily Chappell and inspired in some way by the liquid, the distillery or the people who make it happen.”
Emily’s work has its own unique style, which is superb in my view. The idea behind every label is to capture and represent the ‘folklore’ of the distillery. According to her this is often the result of her researches, and is often inspired by old labeling and packaging, or any fun anecdotes and stories worth to be told.
Pros: Huge variety, absolute guarantee of top notch quality whiskies.
Cons: All bottled as 50ml bottles, but often priced as if they were 70ml given their exclusivity and limited release batches.
More info:
https://www.thatboutiqueywhiskycompany.com/home#the-story-behind-our-labels
https://www.instagram.com/emilychappellillustration/
Image courtesy of: TWS
2. Thompson Brothers
Independently bottled whiskies released by brothers Phil and Simon Thompson (whom I will interview in my Chapter 14).
They run the award-winning whisky bar at the Dornoch Castle Hotel and have founded the Dornoch distillery, which opened in 2016 after a successful crowdfunding.
They are already selling their own gin and have released their first whiskies, while also releasing amazing independent bottlings which are accompanied by colourful labels that mostly feature artworks by a Scottish based artist, illustrator, printer and painter called Katie Guthrie (a.k.a. KMG or KMGyeah). Other labels are by artists called Whisky Hobo and KK Hiroshima .
Pros: Their releases are now quite consistently frequent.
Cons: Their releases can however only be purchased via ballot or on the online shops of the most reputable whisky shops (e.g.: Royal Mile Whisky, Abbey Whisky, Nickolls & Perks etc.) before they (often quickly) sell out.
More info:
Image courtesy of: TWS
3. Ichiro’s Card Series
A 54-bottle set of 54 different whiskies bottled from the remaining casks stock of what today is a closed distillery (Hanyu distillery). The full set today can sell at auctions for around $1.5 millions (yes, almost $30K per bottle). The bottlings were originally released between 2005 and 2014, and the ’legend’ now says that only 4x full sets are still existing.
Regardless of that, this is an amazing and exemplary pairing between whisky and art.
The series consists of 54 different malt whisky expressions, each of which has been assigned a different playing card of a full deck on its label, 52 + 2 jokers. Ichiro Akuto, grandson of the Hanyu distillery founder, and now leader and founder of Chichibu Distillery is the mastermind behind this series. According to one of my researches on this, he commissioned the labels artworks to a Japanese painter called Heizi (also known as Hay).
Pros: Well, definitely among the most valuable whisky bottles on the planet.
Cons: Probably neither me, nor you reading, will ever taste, own or see any of these bottles, let alone the full set…
More info:
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Image courtesy of: Bonhams
4. Private Bottlings by Chichibu
Distillery founded by Ichiro Akuto, considered an icon of the Japanese whisky scenario all over the world.
Extremely small quantities, but very high quality whiskies, bottled since production started in 2008. With Chichibu Ichiro continues the work started with the Hanyu’s Cards Series. He tries to make all bottles memorable for the customers, and he’s a firm believer that this can be achieved also through their image and presentation, which is of course expressed by the labels and packaging.
It’s worth to note that a lot of the bottle series released by Chichibu are bottlings of private casks which were sold upfront to reputable private buyers (e.g.: La Maison Du Whisky in France, The Whisky Exchange in UK, Vienna and Salud Distribution in Austria, Paul Ulrich in Switzerland etc.). That’s why most of the bottles I will talk about are actually not from their own flagship brand ‘Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu’.
Unfortunately I would probably need a dedicated chapter (which I am considering) to tell you more about each specific series. So I’ll keep it brief here and justs list a few examples of past released or still ongoing series.
This, accompanied by images, at this stage should provide you with a flair of what they can do:
- Antipodes Collection (4 bottles)
- Japan Warrior Series Number One (1 bottle)
- 7EVEN Gods of Fortune Series (7 bottles, ongoing until 2025)
- Intergalactic Series (6 Bottles)
- Paris Edition (yearly since 2018)
- London Edition (yearly since 2018)
- US Edition (yearly since 2018)
- Chichibu 2010 Single Mizunara Cask #1000 (1 bottle)
Pros: The value of Japanese precision is known to anyone, imagine when this is applied to Scotch-style whiskies production…
Cons: Very difficult to get your hands on both past and new releases.
More info:
n/a (good luck with that…)
Images courtesy of: Whisky Auctioneer; The Whisky Exchange; TWS
5. Hidden Spirits
A relatively small single malt scotch whisky independent bottling company based in Ferrara (Italy) founded in 2013 by an Italian called Andrea Ferrari. The company name it’s a statement and clearly describes their aim and mission: finding hidden gems (casks, mostly ex-bourbon hogsheads) directly from the seller, usually the distillery itself, and bottle these, as single cask expressions.
All the casks purchased have been tasted and approved, contrary to what most of the big company and brokers would normally do, buying several casks, almost blindly, to keep upfront costs lower.
Art is also a main character in this company’s operate. They don’t want to bottle anonymous whiskies and so all the efforts made in sourcing the right casks is also supported by the presentation of the final product, the bottles. Each of their bottling has a dedicated personalised label. These are usually views and landscapes of the places of origin of the whisky. As far as I know, Italian mural artist called Alessio Bolognesi collaborated from the early days to these artworks, not sure if this has then been expanded to more artists.
Pros: Their offer of outstanding single cask whiskies is generally kept at reasonable prices.
Cons: Difficult to consistently find their products in all the whisky bars (being London based I often find, and try, some of their expressions at Milroy’s of Soho bar).
More info:
Image courtesy of: TWE
6. Infrequent Flyers
The bottle labels feature a biplane aircraft with the two iconic main wings stacked one above the other. This is always pictured flying above mountains and the colour of the sky changes for every bottling. The label is then completed at the bottom with all the factual information that we love to know about our whiskies (region, distillery, vintages, cask type, finishes, ABV, natural colour, no chill filtration, etc.).
Pros: All single cask, cask strength whiskies selected with passion and knowledge by an highly-experienced whisky connoisseur, who could have probably just used the ‘Walker’ name do all the talking, and decided not to.
Cons: These expressions have limited availability, which makes it very difficult to find them on the market or in the whisky bars.
More info:
Image courtesy of: Royal Mile Whiskies
7. Marble Collection (by Morisco Spirits)
Morisco Spirits was founded at the beginning of 2021 as a “personal branding” by Andrea Morisco, an art historian with a fervent passion for whisky, who had been working for years in the art market and business (auctions and antiques). In two years they have already released 11 whiskies (and 2 rums).
In a brief exchange of views we had, Andrea explained that he believes in the pursuit of ‘beauty’, and he considers this as a medium that can change the essence of the other people’s lives. As a result, all their projects and products are conceived and designed oh these basis. Their logo, and their first label artworks, for instance, were inspired by the works of Fortunato Depero, one of the most important Italian (futurist) artists of the 20th century (mostly painter and graphic designer). Depero’s career evolution and mutation inspired Andrea to evolve his career too, and to found MS, that’s why we find this parallelism with the futurist artist in their presentation, developed with the help of a professional graphic designer called Massimiliano Marrazzo.
The last released Marble Collection is instead inspired by Andrea’s passion for roman medieval churches, most of which featured cosmatesque flooring, which take the name from the Cosmati, a family of marble workers that developed a style of decorative stonework with inlaid geometric shaped marble.
The series is a 5-bottle collection, each of which has on the label a pattern inspired by the floors of a few different italian churches, as follows:
- Santa Maria degli Angeli, San Matteo and San Gregorio VII, Salerno (Speyburn 12 years, 2009-2021, first-fill bourbon cask, 55,2%);
- Santa Prassede, Rome (Glentauchers 13 years, 2008-2021, Oloroso sherry butt, 54.8%);
- Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome (Benrinnes 11 years, 2011-2022, ex-bourbon hogshead, 53,1%);
- Santa Maria Nuova, Monreale (Glenlossie 11 years, 2011-2022, ex-bourbon barrel, 52.8%);
- Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome (Ben Nevis 9 years, 2012-2022, ex-bourbon hogshead, 52,4%).
Pros: Their casks are currently selected via highly experienced brokers, but they are already planning to select their next casks to bottle directly from the distilleries. This is is synonym of dedication and will provide us with even further enhanced quality.
Cons: As usual, when dealing with precious bottlings like these, we have to deal with the limited quantities.
More info:
Image courtesy of: Morisco Spirits
8. Na Bràithrean
Pros:An impeccable concept, which offers an opportunity to try exactly the same spirit source under two different cask influences, which I find extremely interesting.
Cons: Buying or trying only one of the two brothers might feels like having a limited experience, but, is buying a double bottle always a feasible option?
More info:
Image courtesy of: Aberdeen Whisky Shop
9. Explorers Series (by Arran)
This was a limited edition of 4 bottles released yearly between 2018 and 2021 by Arran (or Lochranza). This is a relatively young (founded in 1994) but now well established distillery, which, clearly doesn’t need any introduction.
Quoting from their website, the series “celebrates the outstanding scenic beauty and diversity of nature on the Isle of Arran”.
Each Volume comes with its own presentation tin and a corresponding metal poster where 4 iconic locations are pictured, namely:
- Brodick Bay (Volume 1) 49.8% ABV;
- Lochranza Castle (Volume 2) 47.2% ABV;
- Kildonan & Pladda Island (Volume 3) 50.4% ABV;
- Drumadoon Point (Volume 4) 49.5% ABV;
Catriona Tod is the designer that created these beautiful labels, she’s currently based in Edinburgh but with family ties to the Isle of Arran too.
Her work mainly focuses on landscape illustrations of her favourite locations on the beautiful Isle of Arran. The style of her artworks is inspired by the early twentieth century railway posters that you used to see in Scotland advertising scenic trips. Arran was always well known as being the most popular destination for west coasters looking to go away for the ‘Glasgow Fair’ weekend especially on The Waverley, which is the paddle steamer that used to go up and down the Clyde all the time. It still does now, but less so than before. You can actually spot it on the Arran Explorer Series Brodick Bay label illustration!
Pros: All the 4 bottlings have different casks ageing all above 20 years old (20, 21, 21 and 23 years old).
Cons: ll the 4 bottlings were limited to 9000 bottles, which makes these as not really available, or not for long at least.
More info:
https://www.arranwhisky.com/news/161-introducingthe-explorers-series
Images courtesy of: Whisky Auctioneer; The Whisky Exchange
10. Spot Whiskeys (by Mitchell & Son)
This range of bottlings is characterised by the use of coloured spots on their labels. This idea originated from the Mitchell family’s practice of marking their whiskey casks with a daub of different coloured paint in accordance with their ageing.
The range features:
- ‘Blue Spot’ (7 years old, bottled at cask strength);
- ‘Gold Spot’ (9 years old, limited release in 2022 to celebrate the 135th distillery anniversary, bottled at 51,4%);
- ‘Green Spot’ (10 years old, there’s a core range version and a few different expressions mostly finished in french wine casks);
- ‘Yellow Spot’ (12 years old);
- ‘Red Spot’ (15 years old);
Pros: A good starting point to explore “Irish-style” whiskies and triple distillation.
Cons: The best ‘core range’ expressions (blue and red in my opinion) when released sell out quickly and are very difficult to find afterwards. Gold spot? Probably only on secondary market by now… or by the dram here at Drampath!
More info:
Image courtesy of: Revolution Waterford
Drams
and more...
Today's drams
- Blue Spot 7yo – 58.9%
- Balmenach 2002 Thompson Bros. – 57.5%
- Chichibu London Edition 2021 – 51.5%