East London Liquor Company has launched East London Whisky, its first blended whisky, with a new pack design by Thirst that brings a distinctly East London idea of premium to a category still dominated by heritage cues and polite restraint.
The release marks a significant step change for the distillery, expanding its whisky credentials while bringing its signature flavour-first approach to a broader audience of drinkers.
The brief was deceptively simple: create a disruptive design for a new blended grain whisky that could sit confidently at an accessible premium price point, and feel worth it in the hand. East London Liquor Company’s visual identity already carried authenticity and attitude, but this launch needed the pack to do more of the heavy lifting. Not by shouting “luxury” in the usual way, but by making the quality tangible, immediate and unmistakable at shelf distance and up close.
At the heart of the design is a strategy Thirst calls Exquisite Clash – the lived reality of East London, where the rough and the refined sit shoulder-to-shoulder. Old boozers next to new-world restaurants. Victorian detail against concrete tower blocks. Layers of history piled on top of each other, still evolving. That tension became the creative engine: a whisky with a modern “terroir” that isn’t windswept beaches and remote idylls, but grit, culture, community and constant change.
To get it right, the team didn’t build the world from moodboards alone. They walked it. Senior Designer Alex Page and the client spent a day on an “urban safari” through East London, photographing overlooked textures, signage, type, architecture and accidental beauty in the everyday, using that material as the raw ingredient for a more layered, more lived-in premium.
The execution is deliberately tactile and dimensional. Thirst dialled up depth through embossing, micro-embossing, spot varnishes, foil details and die-cut shapes, combining bold typographic structure with collage-like layering and flashes of neon energy. From a distance, the pack reads instantly. In the hand, it rewards attention, answering the unspoken question a shopper asks at the shelf: why is this worth £42? Here, the value isn’t performed through faux tradition. It’s built through craft, materiality and detail.
Sam Cutler, Creative Director at Thirst, said:
“Whisky can feel like it’s trapped in an old-world idea of premium. This needed to feel worth it without becoming precious. East London has a premium all of its own, built on contrast, character and authenticity, so we designed a label that carries real depth. You notice it from across the bar, then it earns the price when you pick it up.”
Alex Wolpert, Founder of East London Liquor Company, added:
“The launch of our first blend was a big step change for us as whisky makers. It sees us bring our signature flavour-first approach to as many whisky drinkers as possible. We wanted this release to build on who we’ve always been, while signposting something very new in our line-up.
“Letting new eyes under the hood of your brand is always an interesting exercise. The process was a healthy interrogation of what makes up the fundamental DNA of East London Liquor. The creative strategy development was where Thirst’s expertise really shone.”
Since launch, the whisky has seen a strong response from both press and customers, boosting whisky sales and reinforcing what East London Liquor Company stands for as modern whisky makers. Supported by a programme of events and activations across the city, the release establishes a refreshed, more confident platform for the brand’s next chapter.