Gold Packaging Design · 2021
The Devil's Keep Ultra Rare Single Malt Irish Whiskey
by Tiago Russo
- A' Design Award 2021 Gold Winner in Packaging Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 40,481
- Verification code 67C0CCDE8E · Verify this award
About The Devil's Keep Ultra Rare Single Malt Irish Whiskey
The inaugural release from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., The Devil’s Keep Experience Box has been created with the most luxurious attention to every single detail, embodied by a dark stained oak finish and brass detailing. It all starts with the strong minimalist visuals on the outside, locked by an ancient Japanese lock with a dedicated key stored at the back. Only by unleashing the experience box from its ancient lock, you will be able to immerse into the contents inside, where dark burgundy leather walls hold the tasting accessories, crucial to experiencing the Devil’s in full.
Tiago Russo's The Devil's Keep Ultra Rare Single Malt Irish Whiskey exemplifies the contemporary elevation of spirits packaging into the realm of collectible object design, where the vessel and its presentation become integral extensions of the liquid treasure contained within. The work engages with longstanding traditions of luxury goods presentation while introducing distinctly modern geometric sensibilities through the angular brass hardware that adorns the textured presentation case, these triangular forms suggesting both the mathematical precision of master distillation and the alchemical transformation that occurs during decades of patient maturation. The choice of deeply striated wood finishing for the exterior case establishes immediate visual and conceptual connections to the charred oak barrels visible in the atmospheric background, creating a narrative coherence that speaks to provenance and process. The faceted crystal decanter demonstrates accomplished understanding of how light interacts with transparent vessels containing amber spirits, the cutting pattern designed to maximize the play of refracted warmth while maintaining a contemporary sculptural profile that distinguishes this presentation from historical precedents. The distinctive stopper featuring what appears to be a deep garnet-toned element introduces an unexpected chromatic accent that elevates the functional closure to a precious crown, suggesting the rare and valuable nature of the contents. The brass nameplate and locking mechanism contribute both practical security and ceremonial significance, transforming the act of opening into a ritualized experience appropriate to the exceptional nature of the spirit. The environmental staging within an authentic cooperage setting demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how context shapes perception, the aged barrels providing both aesthetic backdrop and authenticating documentation of traditional craft. One might consider how this design mediates between the intimate scale of personal luxury and the monumental weight of tradition, inviting reflection on what distinguishes truly exceptional spirits presentation from mere packaging.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Designed by Tiago Russo, The Devil’s Keep Experience Box has been created with the most luxurious attention to every single detail, embodied by a dark stained oak finish and brass detailing. It all starts with the strong minimalist visuals on the outside, where a thin gold trim leads to the two opposite angled and recessed handles that are locked in position by an ancient Japanese lock with a dedicated key stored at the back.
Only by unleashing the experience box from its ancient lock, you will be able to immerse into the contents inside, where dark burgundy leather walls hold the tasting accessories, crucial to experiencing the Devil’s in full.
Bespoke glasses, a custom numbered whiskey certificate and a rich booklet that tells the entirety of The Devil’s Keep story are housed in each door, leaving the centre stage to holding the vessel secure. Behind the bottle, one will find all the bespoke accessories specifically designed for this product that make it, truly, a unique and luxurious whiskey experience: a gold pipette, obsidian whiskey stones, water carafe from the same Antrim source, a measure of the barley used to make the whiskey and a pioneering whiskey and distilling essence, The Angel's Share, an atomizer encapsulated in a bespoke vessel and natural wooden lid.
Not only the experience box has an ancient lock to keep the devil inside, but the bottle itself is also chained to the walls of the experience box, so that only its rightful proprietor can truly unleash the devil. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Experience Box Dimensions: 360mm L x 215mm W x 350mm H.
Exterior Transit Box (in similar materials, with heavy duty brass locks and handles): 420mm L x 275mm W x 417mm H. - Tags
- Whisky, Whiskey, Packaging, Luxury, Tasting, Experience, Bottle, Box
- Production Technology
- Woodwork, metalwork and upholstery techniques. Main box in dark stained smoked oak, with brass trims and a framed burgundy suede cladding around the walls.
- Design Challenge
- The biggest challenge was to create a truly unique product and with it an extraordinary event of not only whiskey tasting, but to interact with an exclusive product, providing the ultimate sensorial experience.
- Project Duration
- Product and Packaging developed since May 2019 for over a year until every single detail of both accessories and the whiskey maturation itself reached the ultimate level of quality.
- Operation Flow
- Drinking rare whiskey should be an experience, whether in the privacy of your home or the theatre of a Michelin starred restaurant.
A fine mist of the angels' share scents the air like cologne, with aged oak and vanilla, to transport you to The Devil’s Keep’s birthplace and its home of decades.
Whiskey poured decadently, with the sound of obsidian on glass. Whether you prefer your whiskey chilled or not, we would suggest that The Devil’s Keep is first enjoyed at room temperature.
A taste of barley to celebrate the earth. The same malted barley used to create The Devil’s Keep. A few drops of purest water using the golden pipette to release micelles within
the whiskey and unleash intoxicating flavours.
Now, and only now, are you ready to raise the Devil and experience one of the finest whiskies ever to come from Ireland’s shores. - Research
- The brief was simple: “to create the best and most luxurious whiskey that Ireland has ever seen.”
It was a blank canvas, with the highest of stakes, which is something that you don’t see very often from a brand – to really immerse onto design as way to truly develop and elevate a product, and to have the time and the mindset that every single detail needs to be ironed out to perfection, and only released when such notion is achieved.
When creating something of this calibre, the paradigm of packaging design and luxury design needs to shift, it needs to elevate, and it was my goal to bring, through a sensorial journey, not only just an appealing product to look at and to taste, but an immersive experience that reach all of its user’s senses, that tells the story and the magnitude of this whiskey without any words needed.
Every material, every detail, had to be singularly present: the dark oak throughout, setting the mood and the absorption of colour, the geometric gold details that strike the eyesight light a bolt, bringing light to the immense darkness of the wood textures, culminating inside with a rich, dark burgundy theme that helps to refract the natural colours of the whiskey.
Each component inside tells a story, and at the same time, interacts with the user in order to provide an intense whiskey tasting experience. Scent, colour, flavour, texture, sound. The Devil’s Keep design combines all of them into an intuitive experience, not just to taste, but to truly feel all the passion and dedication put into creating this ultra-rare, luxurious, collectible whiskey. - Inspiration
- The Devil’s Keep is a unique single malt. An alchemy of water, wood, mastery and time, to create the finest whiskey that Ireland has ever made.
The rarest of whiskeys. A moment in time that can never be recreated. Unparalleled. Irreplaceable. Sublime. Enchantment is woven into every detail of its creation. Spirit that sees the age-old secrets of Ireland’s whiskey masters re-imagined in the vision of a new breed of craftsmen.
Colors of The Devil's Keep Ultra Rare Single Malt Irish Whiskey
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