Port of Leith Distillery
A new brand for a new distillery
First port of call
Port of Leith Distillery will have the proud claim of being Scotland’s first ever vertical distillery. It required a bold brand identity that was as unique and forward-thinking as the company itself.
A local connection
We began at the heart of the distillery’s identity – the marque that would appear on every bottle from sherry to gin, and eventually, whisky. The icon we created was the central point of a visual language that would appeal to different target customers and also work across the portfolio as it expanded.
Then came the design for the individual products.
The label for the first release – an Oloroso Sherry – is an emblem of the two locations that are key to the drink’s history: Leith, home of the distillery and the oldest import capital of Scotland, and Jerez – the heart of traditional sherry production in Spain.
Next, the distillery turned its expertise to juniper. The design for Lind & Lime Gin demonstrates how the clean, repeating lines provide a recognisable aesthetic, while still delivering an entirely different design execution between the products. Lind & Lime’s fully recyclable packaging highlights the distillery’s eco principles.
For the third release in the Port of Leith’s portfolio – a Douro Valley Port – we once again used the brand’s illustrative storytelling language. To increase customer engagement and reinforce the local connection to the product’s history, we tailored the illustration to feature the Douro Valley and Porto – the source of the sherry barrels that some of Edinburgh’s earliest whisky was matured in.
Reversing the black and white colour palette created a striking label which is particularly effective in retail environments, and increases customer awareness of the distillery’s wider product range.
With the brand identity firmly established and these early product releases setting the standard for quality and innovation, Port of Leith Distillery has achieved an enthusiastic following. These advocates are now eagerly awaiting the brand’s next release: its first whisky.
- POLD Sherry and POLD Port: unprecedented launch success, selling out within weeks of release.
- Lind & Lime Gin: Three-year sales targets – smashed in fourteen months and year one volume sales 100% of capacity.
