Strategic design and innovation company Seymourpowell has unveiled its packaging and brand identity work for Woodcutter’s Daughter whiskey, the latest launch from Silent Pool Distillers.

Woodcutter’s Daughter Rye Whiskey is the latest product to launch from drinks industry disruptors Silent Pool Distillers. Tearing up the rule book creating a blend of British and American whiskey, distilling talent on both sides of the Atlantic allowed total creative freedom from whiskey traditions and customs when designing for this innovative product.

Following in the renegade attitude of the distillers, Seymourpowell was tasked to purposely ‘go against the grain’ and challenge the visual language of the category.

The Legend – The brand name is borne from the original Silent Pool tale of a young maiden who met her untimely death. This young maiden was the woodcutter’s daughter.

The Design – inspired in equal part by the essence of the idyllic English Surrey Hills landscape and the metropolitan dynamism of New York, WD challenges the norms of whiskey making to deliver an exciting new taste experience.

The design is a modern and bold reinterpretation of traditional whiskey cues, to attract a new audience looking for an accessible route into whiskey.

The base label nods to these old traditions in its familiar embellishments and typographic language, while contemporising through a modern choice for the variant colour palette.

The gestural and dynamic WD word mark conveys the confident attitude of the brand.

The Woodcutter’s Daughter character is immortalised via the crafting detail within the typographic treatment of the WD brand mark. Her profile is celebrated within the distinctive ‘S’ character shape. This iconic detail reappears on top of the closure and features as a focal point on the neck label.

Weaving around the silhouette on the neck label, stylised illustrations of the native flora and fauna that surround the Silent Pool are shown. These are depicted in warm copper tones, embellished with hot foil stamping. This ethereal location also inspired the batch name for the first whiskey, Speckled Wood.

Allison Spence, Creative Director, Brand, Seymourpowell commented: We were delighted to work with Silent Pool once again on their latest addition to the distillery’s portfolio. We wanted to create an identity that does justice to Silent Pool’s stand-alone, premium whiskey brand – one that could distinctively share its own mythical narrative iterated through the colour palette, tones and typography.

Ian McCulloch, Owner Silent Pool Distillers commented: Our approach to this whiskey, which is a limited edition, was to deliver a brand identity that embodies the product’s narrative, as well as the work invested in it. Seymourpowell has developed a character and spirit that fits dynamically into our premium portfolio.