We champion uniqueness and rely on modern simplicity.
The art of distilling isn’t that far off from website design. It takes years to learn, practice, decipher and understand your craft. You need the right technology, tools and resources to turn something raw into something refined. The people who experience the success of your hard work can sit back, take a sip (or make a click), and smoothly enjoy.
Unfortunately, sometimes short cuts are made, uninspired guesses are thrown up, or even worse, makers get lazy and complacent. The end result is a poorly made spirit that burns more than it sparks emotive feels. And in the case of website design, the online experience just sucks. Hey, we’re big believers in taking risks and learning from your mistakes. Many times these failures lead to beautiful discoveries, but only when your passion is unwavering and you continue on your quest for that something special.
At BrandSpace Studio, we champion uniqueness and rely on modern simplicity. This philosophy connects well to the world of spirit distilling, craft brewing, and heritage wine making. We love a great cocktail, just as much as we love learning about the process, discovering the story and hearing what may lie ahead for the brand’s future. BrandSpace partners with small businesses in every industry, and we can’t wait to share our digital expertise in the development of a brand that people invite into their homes and local cocktail institutions.
We’ve put together a list of 7 websites that are great examples of symbiotic excellence when it comes to great spirit makers and optimal online experiences across Australia and Scotland. When you’ve spent months and years and even decades crafting your particular perspective to distilling - don’t you think your brand and website should continue to share the vision your spirit and liqueur offers? If you’re a brand looking to have a website as strong as your bottled perfection - let’s chat!
Adelaide Hills
Founded in 2014 by winemaker Sacha La Forgia. Sacha hand crafted a copper still and in 2015 launched 78˚ Classic Gin, a product that quickly gained a reputation as a high quality small batch gin showing unique Australian characteristics. They’ve since expanded the product range and increased production capabilities to offer exciting gins, whiskies and liqueurs.
Website Features We Like
Bold imagery, bold text and bold character throughout is consistent with the brand identity. Clear focus on content around sustainability is balanced with creative and bright visuals. Products are uniquely branded and showcased with rich content like video explanations and recipe notes. Shop is clean, minimal, and allows the strong photography to be featured.
Four Pillars
It all started back in 2013 as a small craft distillery with three mates and one extraordinary copper still. Six years later, in 2019, Four Pillars Gin was named the world’s leading gin producer by the IWSC in London. They won again in 2020, making Australia’s favourite gin officially one of the world’s best.
Website Features We Like
Immersive, high-quality video backgrounds. Interactive revealing navigation, not your standard menu. Excellent shop with hover over effects that add value to the products. Unique product pages that showcase bottle, ingredients and vibe.
Never Never
Three people with a passion for flavour, had a serious go at creating Australia’s most exciting and innovative spirit brand. Juniper (the main ingredient in their gin) is the core of everything they do. Distilling their juniper in three ways, using a triple juniper method, complimented by eight other botanicals including the distinctive Australian pepper berry - Never Never offers rich and complex gins that make delicious gin and tonics or cocktails.
Website Features We Like
Unique storybook-like illustrative backgrounds paired with on-brand typography and rich colours. Giant, high-detail product shots showcasing the label, cutout from their backgrounds and floating in fun, interactive ways.
Taylor & Smith
An independent artisan distillery experimenting with Tasmanian botanicals, carefully crafts their base spirits to synthesise the Tasmanian landscape and write out the stories of place. Along with the mix of experimental and , another defining characteristic of Taylor & Smith’s process is their focus on the handmade - with no automated systems.
Website Features We Like
Colour block minimalism aligns with the branding. Select elements offer borderless video backgrounds. Everything aligns to the brand message in a simplistic modern format. Nothing too complex and plenty of ultra blue colours to match the brand.
Cape Byron
At Cape Byron Distillery, they keep true to the time honoured traditions and art of distillation whilst creating spirits that capture and showcase the unique terroir of the Northern Rivers (greater Byron Bay region).
Website Features We Like
Full frame, borderless video backgrounds of the team behind the brand at work. Editorial like presentation of photography, detail shots and text. Brand story telling over multiple areas show the complexity and growth of the brand. Seamless and subtle animations to text and headers.
Glencadam
First opened in 1825, in the ancient city of Brechin. Glencadam Single Malt has always been premium whisky for blending, and as such was highly sought after for some of the world’s most prestigious blends. Their current multi-award winning range now includes Age 10, 15 and 21 Years expressions, as well as Aged 12 Years Old Portwood and Aged 14 Years Oloroso cask finishes, and Aged 30 Years Single Cask.
Website Features We Like
The history of the brand is clearly communicated in text, photos and illustrations. The line illustration style of heritage brands is translated from label to website seamlessly, along with brand typography, colours and style. Classic features like top bar navigation and illustrated footer are appropriate to the brands customers. Whisky photographs are superb and offer character, expression and excellent lighting to feature both the bottle and packaging.
Archie Rose
Located just a few kilometres south of Sydney – Archie Rose Distilling Co. is proudly Australia’s most highly awarded distillery producing a diverse range of whiskies, gins, vodkas and rums, as well as one-off collaborations, limited releases and spirits experiences.
Website Features We Like
Consistent high quality product and stylised photography. On-brand typography (fonts) used across the site. Mega-menus are used in the top navigation to offer visual cues. Brand colour palate is used intelligently across pages, along with subtle textures and fine graphic illustrations to add character and warmth.
