Content like this is right up my alley. I was a designer for years and years, so bottle design is a big deal for me-though I try my hardest not to go into the weeds during the ‘design’ part of my reviews for fear of boring people. This video lies somewhere between Noice and Godlike for me. If I could ever figure out how people do those reaction vids, I’d do one for this one in a Montreal Minute.
The Bruichladdich Classic Laddie has almost the same design and colour as the tins for a Canadian tea company called David's Tea. It always makes me do a double take whenever I see Classic Laddies on the shelves in liquor stores.
As someone who appreciates good design, accessibility and UX, I'm loving the fun way you guys highlight these topics. Personally, I think design is an aspect too often underrated and overlooked by whisky enthusiasts. Design is an integral part of a distillery's history, so I think the hard work of the people designing the brand should not go unnoticed and appreciated, whether we like them or not.
Great video guys really enjoyed this, @JeffWhisky was awesome as always! I really like the Glenturrett bottes and also an isolated one of the Glenfiddich XX, I think it looks super cool with tinted glass and that bronze fingerprint. Cheers guys!
It's designed for the discerning everyman. They decided to leave the foo-foo behind and get serious. Note that their newer expressions (Contrasts and the like) have gone up in their bottled ABV.
God tier for me would probably be the Ardnamurchan single casks - that deep green just looks amazing. Also agree that the newer Benromachs are so much nicer than the old bottles, which look a bit like olive oil
Glenfarclas needs a design reboot. The new Glen Scotia gives me Captain Morgan rum-vibes. Not sure it’s that great. Bruichladdich entire range is god-tier: Laddie is marmite, but nothing else like it, PC range is timeless and already a classic, Octamore is a sleek and aspirational piece of 007 paraphernalia.
I really like the Classic Laddie bottle, even though it’s weird and in my mind it matches with the taste of the whisky inside. And you can definitely spot it from afar.
GlenAllachie looks like a sign welcoming you to the Jungle Cruise at Disney World. Benromach's new design looks like an oil can from the 1930's. Ardnamurchan is the worst sin in design where function is completely abandoned for form. What's the point of a label so abstracted that it no longer fulfills the function of a label?
Great video, design is certainly a part of selling whisky; that's why I haven't bought a Craigellachie yet; the design is too lout for me. I am a big fan of the new Arran design of less is more. The Braille on the new design I find really cool.
Fantastic video and I enjoyed the great chemistry you both had together. I am very opinionated when it comes to packaging design, labelling and artwork and always include a section on this in my whisky reviews. I think it’s really important to get this right. In my opinion, the design of official bottlings should stand out on the shelf, should transmit the quality and status of Single Malt and clearly communicate information about the product in refined, understated way. With Independent bottlings, you can afford to be more adventurous but on the other hand, there should be more emphasise put on technical whisky data. I like 19th century type tinted glass. It communicates tradition and quality and has the added advantage of hiding the colour of natural coloured whisky, so as not to put the casual whisky drinker off by a pale colour. However, a totally opaque bottle like Bruichladdich or Arran Machrie Moor is simply annoying as you cannot tell the bottle level. *Glenmorangie* Well, I’m showing my age here but I remember with great fondness the old Sepia brown Edwardian style labels with artwork, halfway between drawing and photo. For me it was a timeless classic. When Glenmorangie was bought up by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, they committed heresy by getting rid of the old design and replacing it with a garish bright shiny orange packaging that looks like a party box of fizzy wine. The new rebranding is for me, going from bad to worse. It makes the product look cheap. The GLEN / MO / RAN / GIE transmits the message “Hay, don’t take us seriously, we’re a whisky only suitable for cocktails and parties”. A complete train wreck! *Talisker* Again, I remember the old packaging from the 1990s. Old ship map Beige colour with a map of Skye. It was instantly recognisable and communicated “We are an island Malt”. I liked it. When the blue rebranding came along with the sea spray and rocks on the box , I saw this as kitschy. The beige label hadn’t been changed that much and I appreciated the continuity. I think the Talisker label is traditional but fails to distinguish it as a product in its right. You have to understand that when they designed this back in the 1980s and 90s, Talisker was part of a collection of Single Malts called the “Classic Malts Of Scotland”. The label designs of all six malts were designed to blend in with each other with just a slight change in font or bottle design to create a unique character in order to distinguish each bottle from one another. As a collection it worked well. The other malts in the collection, ie Glenkinchie, Oban, Lagavulin (core range), Cragganmore and Dalwhinnie look pretty much what they looked like in the 1990s. (Lagavulin lost its paper TAX label). Only Talisker has had a radical design change. I agree with your assessment. Whatever the old label design had going for it, that is, traditional, oldy-worldy, it has destroyed completely. Yes, it stands out from its former brothers but for the worse. The label looks like a bottle of Orange Squash, and that black map on top looks like someone squashed a fly on the label. *Arran* Old Arran to New Arran. Couldn’t agree more. The original design was amateurish. The new one is superb. I love the shape of the bottle, the beautiful cork stopper and the label design. It says “Quality”! *Glen Scotia* In the early 2000s there was a trend to give bottles a modern technology looking “wrap around” plastic label like Coca Cola. I am not a fan! I found the garish colours made the product look like a cheap Vodka or Cocktail mix. The new artwork is a great improvement but for me, has gone too far the other way, trying too hard to look “traditional”. The postage stamp style picture is simply too much. *Craigellachie* A wonderful over the top old Victorian poster style. May they never ever change it or at least, only subtlety. *GlenAllachie* It looks like someone has made the name out of bits of twigs. It is not an elegant looking label design but at least it succeeds in standing out on the shelf, which is more than can be said for 90% of the others. The trend today is far too generic. *Raasay* I am in two minds about this one. I love its unique stand out on the shelf design. I love the label, which is in one at the same time, highly informative and stylish. I do think though that the bottle design is a bit over the top and seems to suggest that they have spent far too much on the bottle design to try and make up for the fact that the whisky is poor. Nothing could be further from the truth though. Raasay Single Malt Whisky is lovely stuff with its own unique character. *Highland Park* Here is a design which perfectly complements the product it holds. It’s style over substance, hype over fact, artificial over genuine. Well Done everyone at Edrington Group.
in india, the Glenmorangie outer boxer is new at some places and inside the box we have the same designed glenmorangie bottle that tastes pretty great imo.
Oh come on, Craigellachie is God Tier, in every respect. Glenallachie, however, has echoes of The Flintstones and the film credits of The Ten Commandments, IMHO. I'd have to say it is between Craigellachie and Bunnahabhain for my favorite bottle design. Great episode, gentlemen, very entertaining with my Friday Night Dram (Cotswolds Founders Choice). Cheers!
If the orange on the talisker would've been black, it would be a beautiful bottle. The addition of the coastline is so creative, meshes well with the ocean photo too -the orange makes it too busy. Original Talisker bottle was nothing special. Craigellachie's styling is lovely and should remain like that
Awesome idea for a vid! If a bottle fits in Kallax then it is fine, so Victoriana is still good ;) I am liking the Ancnoc design, it is simple and up-to-date. Aultmore is traditional but easy on the eye. Highland Park's only real design advantage is the twist-close cork, big fan of sealing the bottle like that.
Wait your Victoriana fits in you Kallax? I just had to go check mine and is sadly just a fraction too big. Is it a newer bottle you have? For me the height is up there with opaque glass and that is a fantastic point about Highland Park corks. Cheers.
Maybe a bit late. I just found your channel and love it. I love whisky and so do you. Do you also do tastings? My favourite design is Jura. I like the consistancy of the case and the bottle. I love the shape of the case and the fact thats its more a case than a box because of the lit. The shape of the bottle I like. All in all a whisky I would like a collection of to showcase on a shelve. Looking forward to future videos.
I notice the Bruichladdich "shampoo bottle" was so bad it stayed below the 'Why?' tier and you didn't dare say anything about it! When I did a tasting at Glen Scotia, I learned that the distillery staff thought the Disco Coo bottles were cringeworthy ("we don't even have coos like that in this part of Scotland"), but I've always quite liked them...
Min 11:20.... yeah! In Scotland you have to love a cow like that one... Actually, my wife bought a stuffed cow at the Whisky Scotch Experience in Edinburgh, and it joined us in the tour throughout the 5 regions sitting in the car's dashboard.... lol (Jul 2023)! So, plz more respect to the Scotland cows! Now, back home, besides the stuffed cow, I have postcards, fridge magnetos, cookie metal box and pens with the cow on them. I forgot to mention, at Tomatin Distillery they have a commemorative big size cow at the Visitors Centre patio.
I really miss those good ol highland park bottles. They didn't get into this whole flashy viking thingy too much and were modern and classy like old taliskers.
When I got into whisky a couple years ago, both Benromach bottles were around and I found myself liking the old one a bit more. Agree that most would like the new one more though.
First I thought it’d be Waldorf and Statler ranting endlessly about their points of view nobody shares and complaining about change in general. But you got it right, looking at the matter with humour and pointing out the nonsensical whining about the loss of terrible designs like old Benromach or Arran. Fun video! One thought, nobody ever mentions that: Glenmorangie nowadays just looks like a fancy pantsy product made by a french luxury brand, what is very fitting, as it is exactly that. I don‘t really care when LVMH puts their flavour onto bottles. At least they didn’t change a lot to the worse inside. A lot of the Glenmorangie Whiskies are still top notch. Good use of casks, mostly age stated, good abv and not ridiculously overpriced. As long as they keep going like that I’ll forgive them a lot.
Awesome video! Design is so key to selling bottles as anyone in retail will tell you. You seem to have missed Islay though! Laga and Lafrog are both god tier bottles, but Lafrog has a new bottle design coming out which is way worse in my opinion. Glenallachie and Springbank are the worst bottles in Scotland (in my opinion). I find the different use of colours in Springbank is so ugly (orange, purple, blue etc)
Ragnar Lothbrok's preferred whisky was the Highland Park 12. His warriors would take a mouthful and spit/spray it over their wounds. They'd always make sure to let their deceased warriors hold a weapon in one hand and a bottle of highland park in the other while on their way to the halls of the Aesir and Valhalla to drink with the gods and heroes of old. Buy highland park. Just make an advertisement like this! Easy!
I was wondering something. If there was a law that applied globally, whereby all whiskey bottles had to be exactly the same in design and the only thing that was different about them was what was written on them (which had to be in the same font, colour, style, size etc) to describe the contents of the bottle, would we collect as much whiskey as we do now?
*Benromach Vs BenRiach* Here’s where I radically disagree with you. The old packaging of both BenRiach (notice Capital “R”) which was independently owned by Billy Walker, and Benromach, owned by Gordon and McPhail, Independent Bottlers, were very distinct and both stood out on the shelves. This was a good thing not only for sales, but also because it is easy for punters to get confused between Benromach and BenRiach, seeing as they have very similar names and geographically quite near each other in the northern Speyside region. Benriach, who were bought by Brown Forman of Jack Daniels fame, decided to change the packaging to reflect the new ownership. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Benromach decided to revamp their packaging as well. Now, I cannot divulge my sources as how I obtained these transcripts but I thought it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall of both marketing departments at Benromach and BenRiach. *Transcript of meeting between Benromach marketing and Bottle designers* Marketing guy: “OK guys, we have one of the most distinctive packages and bottles on the market. Our brass-coloured boxes and handwritten style Benromach name stands out on the shelf and is instantly recognisable from the other side of the shop. The package artwork is absolutely unique and looks like someone has personally added in a white marker pen, little details about the whisky, transmitting an image that this is a high quality, small batch, craft artisan product. Now, the packaging has the added benefit of being completely different to BenRiach distillery, which is often confused with us due to its similar name and geographical proximity. So, what we need for the revamp packaging is first of all, a label that has no unique symbol whatsoever, artwork or anything which makes it stand out on the shelf or be identified as a specific brand. In this way, all the potential buyers will see is our generic name “Benromach” in plane red on a plain beige background, so that it looks more like a Supermarket own brand label of floor cleaner. Bottle Designer: “Oh, I get it. You want a branding and label so utterly bland, generic and forgettable, that everyone will instantly recognise it as Benromach! Reverse Psychology. Brilliant! I believe we have a design which was rejected by Sainsbury’s for being even too generic for them. It will be perfect. I’ll get on to that right away. Just checking, are you sure you don't want any symbols, like a deer's head, thistle, a barrel, a Scottish flag, tartan...?" Marketing guy: ”What did I say? The campaign keywords are Bland, plain, ubiquitous, faceless and utterly forgettable... Got it?" *Transcript of meeting between Benriach marketing and Bottle designers* Marketing guy: So let’s recap. BENRIACH is instantly recognisable by two distinct things. 1. The name is written in a very distinctive way, ie BenRiach, which not only makes it stands out but further differentiates it from the similar sounding Benromach, just down the road from us. 2. Our bottle shape is absolutely unique, oldy-worldy and instantly identified from afar. So, what we need for the revamp packaging is first of all, a label that has no unique symbol whatsoever, artwork or anything which makes it stand out on the shelf or be identified as a specific brand. In this way, all the potential buyers will see is our generic name “Benriach”, (yes remove the Capital “R”), in black letters on a plain beige background, so that it looks more like a Supermarket own brand label. The campaign keywords are Bland, plain, ubiquitous, faceless and utterly forgettable. Got it?" Conclusion: In my opinion, this is complete train wreck of a marketing campaign. What were they thinking?
The new Arran bottle looks like a cider vinegar bottle.... YES! on the too tall Glen Scotia bottles. Penderyn is even worse at it.... I think that the old Benromach was trying to be too 'trendy', while the new look leans into 'traditional' (the heroic Soviet look), so I think they changed from trying to attract young trendoids to nerds who really care about flavor.... I find the Port Charlotte bottle makes it awkward to pour; I think the neck should be a mite longer, as per Bunnahabhain's bottles... I much prefer Douglas Laing's label offerings rather than Compass Box; the steampunk vibe works very well. Scarabus is 'da best'..... HP did that! I got into HP Einar, when they had a line of expressions named after viking leaders of Orkney, they axed it back in 2017. The whisky was better back then, too. Then, they just trashed it all...for what, I'm not sure.
I agree. Sadly I suffered from Bells Palsy which has caused both light sensitivity and issues with my left eye. Think the shades are less distracting than an ever sagging eye 😂. Was you more a fan of the old style Arran? Cheers.
To me, Compass Box packaging looks like designer gin. Highland Park bottles are very off-putting for me. They just look weird. The Ailsa Bay bottle is really badass. Once I empty the bottle, I'll have a tough time discarding it.
It certainly ain't a "God Tier" look 🤣. After having Bells Palsy, they have become really helpful with my eye issues so have settled on this style. Cheers.
Was an absolute blast filming this and truly is edited to perfection! Cheers for having me Phil. DISCO COW FOR GOD TIER! 🥃
😂. Thanks again mate! It was good fun
Please do more together. That was brilliant 👏 😂
Not sure if Phil will have me again 😂 he certainly had a tough job editing it! Cheers!
Content like this is right up my alley. I was a designer for years and years, so bottle design is a big deal for me-though I try my hardest not to go into the weeds during the ‘design’ part of my reviews for fear of boring people. This video lies somewhere between Noice and Godlike for me. If I could ever figure out how people do those reaction vids, I’d do one for this one in a Montreal Minute.
The collab we've been waiting for is here!
The Bruichladdich Classic Laddie has almost the same design and colour as the tins for a Canadian tea company called David's Tea. It always makes me do a double take whenever I see Classic Laddies on the shelves in liquor stores.
Not a Scotch, but The Sexton definitely needs to be part of the conversation regarding bottle design.
As someone who appreciates good design, accessibility and UX, I'm loving the fun way you guys highlight these topics.
Personally, I think design is an aspect too often underrated and overlooked by whisky enthusiasts. Design is an integral part of a distillery's history, so I think the hard work of the people designing the brand should not go unnoticed and appreciated, whether we like them or not.
Agree! Thanks!
Where are all da people?!?! This was youtube at its best!!! Great content, great collab!
ALL HAIL THE DISCO COW!
#DiscoCowForGodTier
Great job mates! I wish you were in the UK with Jeff or Jeff is in NZ with you..but that's why we live in an online world! Cheers! Love the collab!
Thanks mate! Me too! An in person collab would have been brilliant
Well, I am always looking for an excuse to visit NZ...
Great video guys really enjoyed this, @JeffWhisky was awesome as always! I really like the Glenturrett bottes and also an isolated one of the Glenfiddich XX, I think it looks super cool with tinted glass and that bronze fingerprint. Cheers guys!
Guys, pleaaaase do more colabs, this is hilarious! 😂😂
Despite I really don't give a f... about the design, really loved the slappable video.
Thanks Phil for inviting Mr. Slapper.
Slàinte mhath
Thanks mate!
You guys are great together, great to see two legends vibing and enjoying themselves 🥃
DO A PART TWO!!!!
Maybe one day. Not sure I can forgive Phil for not putting the Disco Cow in God tier!
Excellent video guys 👍. I’m the same with the Benromach rebranding, didn’t like it at first but now getting used to it. Slàinte.
Yeah I’ve come to really like it. Thanks David!
It's designed for the discerning everyman. They decided to leave the foo-foo behind and get serious. Note that their newer expressions (Contrasts and the like) have gone up in their bottled ABV.
That's some "God Tier"-quality whisky youtubery right there.
God tier for me would probably be the Ardnamurchan single casks - that deep green just looks amazing.
Also agree that the newer Benromachs are so much nicer than the old bottles, which look a bit like olive oil
We need the equivalent blindtasting of Jeffwhisky vs Geoffwhisky.
The greatest showdown the world has ever seen!
Glenfarclas needs a design reboot.
The new Glen Scotia gives me Captain Morgan rum-vibes. Not sure it’s that great.
Bruichladdich entire range is god-tier: Laddie is marmite, but nothing else like it, PC range is timeless and already a classic, Octamore is a sleek and aspirational piece of 007 paraphernalia.
The Flora and Fauna reach toward God Tier for me. Timeless design.
Bang on the money with all of those opinions and judgements!
Thanks mate!
We need more!
I really like the Classic Laddie bottle, even though it’s weird and in my mind it matches with the taste of the whisky inside. And you can definitely spot it from afar.
GlenAllachie looks like a sign welcoming you to the Jungle Cruise at Disney World. Benromach's new design looks like an oil can from the 1930's. Ardnamurchan is the worst sin in design where function is completely abandoned for form. What's the point of a label so abstracted that it no longer fulfills the function of a label?
😂 great takes!
Great video, design is certainly a part of selling whisky; that's why I haven't bought a Craigellachie yet; the design is too lout for me. I am a big fan of the new Arran design of less is more. The Braille on the new design I find really cool.
and what about last one? The Laddie
Class / god tier for me
Yeah...what the heck. They missed it. Well I'll assume it would've been the top tier
Oh yeah. We did talk about it but the video was getting way too long. Maybe I should release an extended video
To quote Strongbad, Ardnamurchin's naming convention looks like a quadratic formula exploded
Exactly. Love the whisky. Not the naming convention
Fantastic video and I enjoyed the great chemistry you both had together.
I am very opinionated when it comes to packaging design, labelling and artwork and always include a section on this in my whisky reviews. I think it’s really important to get this right.
In my opinion, the design of official bottlings should stand out on the shelf, should transmit the quality and status of Single Malt and clearly communicate information about the product in refined, understated way. With Independent bottlings, you can afford to be more adventurous but on the other hand, there should be more emphasise put on technical whisky data.
I like 19th century type tinted glass. It communicates tradition and quality and has the added advantage of hiding the colour of natural coloured whisky, so as not to put the casual whisky drinker off by a pale colour. However, a totally opaque bottle like Bruichladdich or Arran Machrie Moor is simply annoying as you cannot tell the bottle level.
*Glenmorangie*
Well, I’m showing my age here but I remember with great fondness the old Sepia brown Edwardian style labels with artwork, halfway between drawing and photo. For me it was a timeless classic. When Glenmorangie was bought up by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, they committed heresy by getting rid of the old design and replacing it with a garish bright shiny orange packaging that looks like a party box of fizzy wine. The new rebranding is for me, going from bad to worse. It makes the product look cheap. The GLEN / MO / RAN / GIE transmits the message “Hay, don’t take us seriously, we’re a whisky only suitable for cocktails and parties”. A complete train wreck!
*Talisker*
Again, I remember the old packaging from the 1990s. Old ship map Beige colour with a map of Skye. It was instantly recognisable and communicated “We are an island Malt”. I liked it. When the blue rebranding came along with the sea spray and rocks on the box , I saw this as kitschy. The beige label hadn’t been changed that much and I appreciated the continuity. I think the Talisker label is traditional but fails to distinguish it as a product in its right. You have to understand that when they designed this back in the 1980s and 90s, Talisker was part of a collection of Single Malts called the “Classic Malts Of Scotland”. The label designs of all six malts were designed to blend in with each other with just a slight change in font or bottle design to create a unique character in order to distinguish each bottle from one another. As a collection it worked well.
The other malts in the collection, ie Glenkinchie, Oban, Lagavulin (core range), Cragganmore and Dalwhinnie look pretty much what they looked like in the 1990s. (Lagavulin lost its paper TAX label). Only Talisker has had a radical design change. I agree with your assessment. Whatever the old label design had going for it, that is, traditional, oldy-worldy, it has destroyed completely. Yes, it stands out from its former brothers but for the worse. The label looks like a bottle of Orange Squash, and that black map on top looks like someone squashed a fly on the label.
*Arran*
Old Arran to New Arran. Couldn’t agree more. The original design was amateurish. The new one is superb. I love the shape of the bottle, the beautiful cork stopper and the label design. It says “Quality”!
*Glen Scotia*
In the early 2000s there was a trend to give bottles a modern technology looking “wrap around” plastic label like Coca Cola. I am not a fan! I found the garish colours made the product look like a cheap Vodka or Cocktail mix. The new artwork is a great improvement but for me, has gone too far the other way, trying too hard to look “traditional”. The postage stamp style picture is simply too much.
*Craigellachie*
A wonderful over the top old Victorian poster style. May they never ever change it or at least, only subtlety.
*GlenAllachie*
It looks like someone has made the name out of bits of twigs. It is not an elegant looking label design but at least it succeeds in standing out on the shelf, which is more than can be said for 90% of the others. The trend today is far too generic.
*Raasay*
I am in two minds about this one. I love its unique stand out on the shelf design. I love the label, which is in one at the same time, highly informative and stylish. I do think though that the bottle design is a bit over the top and seems to suggest that they have spent far too much on the bottle design to try and make up for the fact that the whisky is poor. Nothing could be further from the truth though. Raasay Single Malt Whisky is lovely stuff with its own unique character.
*Highland Park*
Here is a design which perfectly complements the product it holds. It’s style over substance, hype over fact, artificial over genuine. Well Done everyone at Edrington Group.
Holy cow lol
My Dark Silkie bottle has its own shelf as its so tall, annoys me so much
Exactly!
A giant bucket of hunk-a-chunk 😂
Hell of an intro 👏🏼
I am going to put that on my CV...
@@JeffWhisky 🤣
in india, the Glenmorangie outer boxer is new at some places and inside the box we have the same designed glenmorangie bottle that tastes pretty great imo.
There should be more episodes of Whisky Branding reviews! Suggest: Glenturret, Ardbeg, Penderyn and so many more!!
Awesome Phil. Nice to see more videos! Chur 😁👊🌏🌿🌿🌿🌿🥝🥝🥝
Feels so good to put out 2 videos in 2 weeks! More to come!
@@FirstPhilWhisky Fantastic Phil. Keep Smashing Them out Bro! Nice work. I have enjoyed this months videos.😝🤘🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃😁👊🌿🌿🌿🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🥝🥝🥝😊👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Fun video. I missed kilchoman bottles. They are awsome
Disco cow demands MORE! No one buys the bottle without looking at a label, Slanj
Oh come on, Craigellachie is God Tier, in every respect. Glenallachie, however, has echoes of The Flintstones and the film credits of The Ten Commandments, IMHO.
I'd have to say it is between Craigellachie and Bunnahabhain for my favorite bottle design.
Great episode, gentlemen, very entertaining with my Friday Night Dram (Cotswolds Founders Choice). Cheers!
Ha totally get the flint stones thing 😂. Thanks James, glad you enjoyed it
Cotswolds Founders Choice is a brilliant whisky and a pretty stunning one too with the navy and gold. Cheers!
Congratulations Phil good to see your videos more often 👏
Thanks! More to come too!
The new Hearach bottle needs to feature in round two of this vid!
If the orange on the talisker would've been black, it would be a beautiful bottle. The addition of the coastline is so creative, meshes well with the ocean photo too -the orange makes it too busy.
Original Talisker bottle was nothing special.
Craigellachie's styling is lovely and should remain like that
Awesome idea for a vid! If a bottle fits in Kallax then it is fine, so Victoriana is still good ;) I am liking the Ancnoc design, it is simple and up-to-date. Aultmore is traditional but easy on the eye. Highland Park's only real design advantage is the twist-close cork, big fan of sealing the bottle like that.
Wait your Victoriana fits in you Kallax? I just had to go check mine and is sadly just a fraction too big. Is it a newer bottle you have? For me the height is up there with opaque glass and that is a fantastic point about Highland Park corks. Cheers.
@@JeffWhisky It is not the latest design, maybe 2021 or so? Gold stripe at the top... not at home so cannot give any details for now
I had never seen those old Glen Scotia bottles before. They really were no cow-ards when it comes to bottle design!
Think we got a pun winner here! 🎉
The Benromach redesign was DEFINITELY a better rebrand, agree that the old one put me off Phil
Maybe a bit late. I just found your channel and love it. I love whisky and so do you. Do you also do tastings? My favourite design is Jura. I like the consistancy of the case and the bottle. I love the shape of the case and the fact thats its more a case than a box because of the lit. The shape of the bottle I like. All in all a whisky I would like a collection of to showcase on a shelve. Looking forward to future videos.
I notice the Bruichladdich "shampoo bottle" was so bad it stayed below the 'Why?' tier and you didn't dare say anything about it!
When I did a tasting at Glen Scotia, I learned that the distillery staff thought the Disco Coo bottles were cringeworthy ("we don't even have coos like that in this part of Scotland"), but I've always quite liked them...
Maybe it was somebpdy's hoos coo?
Min 11:20.... yeah! In Scotland you have to love a cow like that one... Actually, my wife bought a stuffed cow at the Whisky Scotch Experience in Edinburgh, and it joined us in the tour throughout the 5 regions sitting in the car's dashboard.... lol (Jul 2023)! So, plz more respect to the Scotland cows! Now, back home, besides the stuffed cow, I have postcards, fridge magnetos, cookie metal box and pens with the cow on them. I forgot to mention, at Tomatin Distillery they have a commemorative big size cow at the Visitors Centre patio.
the glenturret and bladnoch bottles are something else.
I love the old style bottles of Oban 14 and Caol Ila
I really miss those good ol highland park bottles. They didn't get into this whole flashy viking thingy too much and were modern and classy like old taliskers.
All hail the Discow.
Would love to see thoughts on the new Glenrothes direction. Some decisions have been made...
This is such a wonderful and so underrated video!
When I got into whisky a couple years ago, both Benromach bottles were around and I found myself liking the old one a bit more. Agree that most would like the new one more though.
First I thought it’d be Waldorf and Statler ranting endlessly about their points of view nobody shares and complaining about change in general.
But you got it right, looking at the matter with humour and pointing out the nonsensical whining about the loss of terrible designs like old Benromach or Arran. Fun video!
One thought, nobody ever mentions that: Glenmorangie nowadays just looks like a fancy pantsy product made by a french luxury brand, what is very fitting, as it is exactly that. I don‘t really care when LVMH puts their flavour onto bottles. At least they didn’t change a lot to the worse inside. A lot of the Glenmorangie Whiskies are still top notch. Good use of casks, mostly age stated, good abv and not ridiculously overpriced. As long as they keep going like that I’ll forgive them a lot.
Brilliant stuff. You guys must collaborate some more. Cheers!
A fun one. Good chemistry. But what happened to the Classic Laddie?
What happened with classic laddie? Why is it at the bottom and not ranked? Did they just forget???😲
Video got too long and I cut it out. Maybe I should have left it in though!
Ironing that Arran have braille on the new bottle but dyslexics may find it hard to read the text.
a disco cow is the last thing you want to see on a label. Craigellachie is great bring on bourbon bottles too next time
Awesome video! Design is so key to selling bottles as anyone in retail will tell you.
You seem to have missed Islay though! Laga and Lafrog are both god tier bottles, but Lafrog has a new bottle design coming out which is way worse in my opinion.
Glenallachie and Springbank are the worst bottles in Scotland (in my opinion). I find the different use of colours in Springbank is so ugly (orange, purple, blue etc)
Yeah I’m not a fan of Springbank bottles design either.
Fun video. The Highland Park looks to me like it should be a 1.75 liter bottle for about $20.
Ragnar Lothbrok's preferred whisky was the Highland Park 12. His warriors would take a mouthful and spit/spray it over their wounds. They'd always make sure to let their deceased warriors hold a weapon in one hand and a bottle of highland park in the other while on their way to the halls of the Aesir and Valhalla to drink with the gods and heroes of old. Buy highland park.
Just make an advertisement like this! Easy!
Guys, such a good idea for a video and then you talk about bottle designs only?
What about the spirit?!
This should have been: Ranking
Glen Allachie has to by the nr 1 ugliest bottle around. That Papyrus like font, the faux velvet/rock pattern background 😨
I was wondering something. If there was a law that applied globally, whereby all whiskey bottles had to be exactly the same in design and the only thing that was different about them was what was written on them (which had to be in the same font, colour, style, size etc) to describe the contents of the bottle, would we collect as much whiskey as we do now?
*Benromach Vs BenRiach*
Here’s where I radically disagree with you. The old packaging of both BenRiach (notice Capital “R”) which was independently owned by Billy Walker, and Benromach, owned by Gordon and McPhail, Independent Bottlers, were very distinct and both stood out on the shelves. This was a good thing not only for sales, but also because it is easy for punters to get confused between Benromach and BenRiach, seeing as they have very similar names and geographically quite near each other in the northern Speyside region.
Benriach, who were bought by Brown Forman of Jack Daniels fame, decided to change the packaging to reflect the new ownership. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Benromach decided to revamp their packaging as well.
Now, I cannot divulge my sources as how I obtained these transcripts but I thought it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall of both marketing departments at Benromach and BenRiach.
*Transcript of meeting between Benromach marketing and Bottle designers*
Marketing guy: “OK guys, we have one of the most distinctive packages and bottles on the market. Our brass-coloured boxes and handwritten style Benromach name stands out on the shelf and is instantly recognisable from the other side of the shop. The package artwork is absolutely unique and looks like someone has personally added in a white marker pen, little details about the whisky, transmitting an image that this is a high quality, small batch, craft artisan product.
Now, the packaging has the added benefit of being completely different to BenRiach distillery, which is often confused with us due to its similar name and geographical proximity.
So, what we need for the revamp packaging is first of all, a label that has no unique symbol whatsoever, artwork or anything which makes it stand out on the shelf or be identified as a specific brand. In this way, all the potential buyers will see is our generic name “Benromach” in plane red on a plain beige background, so that it looks more like a Supermarket own brand label of floor cleaner.
Bottle Designer: “Oh, I get it. You want a branding and label so utterly bland, generic and forgettable, that everyone will instantly recognise it as Benromach! Reverse Psychology. Brilliant! I believe we have a design which was rejected by Sainsbury’s for being even too generic for them. It will be perfect. I’ll get on to that right away.
Just checking, are you sure you don't want any symbols, like a deer's head, thistle, a barrel, a Scottish flag, tartan...?"
Marketing guy: ”What did I say? The campaign keywords are Bland, plain, ubiquitous, faceless and utterly forgettable... Got it?"
*Transcript of meeting between Benriach marketing and Bottle designers*
Marketing guy: So let’s recap. BENRIACH is instantly recognisable by two distinct things.
1. The name is written in a very distinctive way, ie BenRiach, which not only makes it stands out but further differentiates it from the similar sounding Benromach, just down the road from us. 2. Our bottle shape is absolutely unique, oldy-worldy and instantly identified from afar.
So, what we need for the revamp packaging is first of all, a label that has no unique symbol whatsoever, artwork or anything which makes it stand out on the shelf or be identified as a specific brand. In this way, all the potential buyers will see is our generic name “Benriach”, (yes remove the Capital “R”), in black letters on a plain beige background, so that it looks more like a Supermarket own brand label.
The campaign keywords are Bland, plain, ubiquitous, faceless and utterly forgettable. Got it?"
Conclusion: In my opinion, this is complete train wreck of a marketing campaign. What were they thinking?
The new Arran bottle looks like a cider vinegar bottle....
YES! on the too tall Glen Scotia bottles. Penderyn is even worse at it....
I think that the old Benromach was trying to be too 'trendy', while the new look leans into 'traditional' (the heroic Soviet look), so I think they changed from trying to attract young trendoids to nerds who really care about flavor....
I find the Port Charlotte bottle makes it awkward to pour; I think the neck should be a mite longer, as per Bunnahabhain's bottles...
I much prefer Douglas Laing's label offerings rather than Compass Box; the steampunk vibe works very well. Scarabus is 'da best'.....
HP did that! I got into HP Einar, when they had a line of expressions named after viking leaders of Orkney, they axed it back in 2017. The whisky was better back then, too. Then, they just trashed it all...for what, I'm not sure.
Great points!
I often buy things just for the packaging lol
Sunglasses inside is never a good look.
Ps the new Arran bottle should be in meh. Very bland.
I agree. Sadly I suffered from Bells Palsy which has caused both light sensitivity and issues with my left eye. Think the shades are less distracting than an ever sagging eye 😂.
Was you more a fan of the old style Arran? Cheers.
@JeffWhisky fair enough, whatever is comfortable.
Let's be honest, it's nothing compared to disco cow! 🐄
two handsome hunk of chunks chatting handsome whisky. What is not to like!
To me, Compass Box packaging looks like designer gin.
Highland Park bottles are very off-putting for me. They just look weird.
The Ailsa Bay bottle is really badass. Once I empty the bottle, I'll have a tough time discarding it.
I can not fathom who anyone can rate Glenmorangies new design as anything but "WHY, WHY, WHY!" It looks cheap and crass. Just absolutely horrendous😢
Tamdhu, one of the best.
Best!
Hate those over artistic indy bottles, terrible and tacky and puts me off big time.
First
Best and worst: sunglasses are worst in a video like that.
It certainly ain't a "God Tier" look 🤣. After having Bells Palsy, they have become really helpful with my eye issues so have settled on this style. Cheers.
rank whiskys not designes