Gin, from its beginnings, was about travel and the trade routes that made its creation possible. The Trade Route Collection by The Gin Foundry follows these ancient waterways to source the best botanicals and spices used to craft their distinctive gins. The packaging needed to be exotic and evocative, capturing the exotic trade routes, while remaining flexible enough to customize each regionally inspired gin.

“The Gin Foundry London Dry Gins take you on trips to distant lands. For our artisan gins, we carefully hand-select our botanicals sourced along the Ancient Trade Routes. The botanicals are steeped in pure grain spirit overnight and then expertly distilled in a traditional copper pot still. Before bottling we blend our spirit with pure Swiss Mountain Springwater. Is this process painstaking and expensive? We never ask that question. We only ask what we can do to create the best gin possible.”

CF Napa Brand Design designed the custom bottle to evoke old apothecary bottles and medicinal gins. The label, inspired by historic maps and period typography, also incorporates etchings of the mythical creatures often depicted on maps of the legendary trade routes. A Mediterranean blue and a sea monster illustration were chosen for the Europa Gin, while the Far East Gin received a pale red and a dragon.

“EUROPA is a trip around the Mediterranean. No single botanical dominates the overall flavor. The finish is long and dry with a full citric taste and juniper notes emerging halfway through. Herbal notes from the basil bring an aromatic sweetness that pairs elegantly with the citrus. This is a gin that can be enjoyed neat and whose citric acid herbal notes work perfectly in martinis and citrus cocktails. It is highlighted in a G & T with an orange peel and basil leaf.

“FAR EAST is a trip around Asia. This is a more juniper-forward gin with spice notes. The finish is dry with a softer citric taste. Cubeb berries and black peppercorns bring spice notes that pair perfectly with Asian citrus. This is a gin that can be enjoyed neat and whose spice and earth notes work perfectly in martinis and herbal cocktails. It is highlighted in a G & T with lemongrass and Asian citrus.”

The result was a beautifully layered and richly textured label, with embossing and foil over stamping.