In Irish mythology, Donn is associated to the god of the dead. Derived from the Celtic word for Dark Lord, Donn is said to dwell under the rock tunnel at Tech Duinn, where the souls of the dead gather to be chosen by the Donn. With Tech Duinn associated with the formation of Bull Rock in Ireland, The Donn bottle is inspired by the geometric rock formations on the side of this island, where an inverted elevating geometry was adopted, as to represent the conquering of Tech Duinn and The Donn.

A mythological creation that sees its storytelling translated and reinterpreted through an impactful design, The Donn represents the first ever retail tailored product from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., and therefore, focuses on the bottle and on how a single vessel can tell its own story whilst captivating the world around it. Subsequently, its experience box comes to elevate and highlight the vessel shaping, by adopting a see-through section with a similar angled geometry.

With its faceted, angular shaping, The Donn bottle was envisioned with a large, solid base, elevating the whiskey and its shades onto the narrowest part of the bottle. From there, the planar surfaces reflect the whiskey colours in every direction, in a vessel that must be visible from all angles, with one’s attention grabbed and enchanted onto it, as the glass elevates, widens and creates the inverted lip at the very top of its shoulders, creating the basis for a vertical elevated posture.

The vessel’s divergent shape and enlarged shoulder acts like a freestanding monument, whilst allowing a recessed gap for the user to grab the bottle with ease, in the exact balancing spot that will allow a soft and smooth pour, all designed and enclosed within the perfect combination of aesthetics, mythology, ergonomics and sensorial experience. Subsequently, the experience box comes into play to add to the full experience, in a singular moment of introspection and appreciation.

The Donn packaging is a sensorial experience embedded onto the dark oak, leather, rose gold details, and most importantly, a moment of tasting and celebration, alongside the intricate vessel. Concise angles are used as the main focus point, drawing the attention towards the bottle, where the faceted shaping, iconic of this vessel, has inspired a similar angular and transparent window, teasing the viewer onto the natural shades of the Whiskey whilst bursting all the light refractions through.

Introduced by The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. early 2023, The Donn represents the youngest addition to the luxury whiskey range, with its bottle developed for almost two years, in order to achieve the ultimate vessel, with the rock-formed geometry appearing in the glass smoothly and ensuring the liquid inside stays visible and truly benefits from all the angles and reflections promoted by the extremely angular asymmetrical bottle, topped by obsidian and rose gold knurl detailing on the closure.

As a product that is tailored to a broader range of users and buyers than the rest of the brand’s range, the research stage was focused on the retail whiskey market, in order to understand what could be a shape and appealing design for this product to stand out from the shelves, in such a competitive market. It was a search for differentiating assets, for disruptiveness that could elevate and highlight The Donn beyond its direct competitors, through design and mythology.

Apart from the extensive search for disruptive, eye-catching elements that could generate the differentiating point for The Donn, the core of the development process relied on creating a product that, whilst encompassing difference and irreverence, could still stay true to the brand’s ultra-premium look and feel, that could be considered a worthy successor of previous years’ releases, elevating whiskey and brand as one. Desire, disruption, tradition, all merged together in a single design.