Stig Bareksten is a highly-distinguished master-distiller and co-founder of Oss Craft Distillery, situated in Bergen, Norway. He has now created Bareksten Botanical Spirits, a unique range of craft spirits, including gin, vodka, liqueur, absinthe, whiskey and aquavit. KIND’s task was to create Bareksten’s complete branding, including visual identity, bottles, labels and advertising.
The starting point and the humble aim of the project was to create the world’s best gin. To achieve this, we needed to create a brand that was bold, distinctive and unique. We also wanted to challenge the market-leaders and position Bareksten for the hi-end market.
Bareksten represents the essence of Norway – dark, wild, breathtaking, dramatic. Clean flavours inspired by ancient craft traditions are at the very heart of the brand’s ‘botanical wonders’.
The liquor is crafted from herbs harvested from the forest, and this was also where we gathered our inspiration for the brand. Influenced by the Nordic fauna and its dark legends, the Bareksten brand became wild, dark and mystical, much like Stig Bareksten himself.
The bottles have been dyed matte-black and adorned with a mysterious skeletal forest. The label was inspired from old medicine vials, adding a touch of tradition to the layout. An ambigram symbol and custom logotype is the center focus of the bottle, in glossed white it stands distinctively on the matte black. The continuing range of different spirits has it’s own colour and forest illustration to help differentiate and tell its own mystical story.
Craft has finally found its spirit.
Bareksten wanted to challenge the large international competitors, the trinity of flavour, design and storytelling was key for it to succeed with this. The design has successfully positioned Bareksten within the hi-end part of the liquor-marked and gained a high reputation for its distinctive design and flavor, clearly differentiation the product from its competitors.
Bareksten Botanical became an essential part of the product range to the Norwegian Vinmonopolet, along with tax-free shelves and of course in bars all over the world. It is still expanding its reach and is beginning to seriously venture beyond its domestic market. Bareksten Botanical Gin has now become one of the most awarded Gin brands, for both it’s flavor and unique design and has achieved the prestigious title of the world’s best Gin in San Francisco in 2018 along with being Best in Class winner in the category London Dry Gin in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2020.
