Feast your eyes on these standout medal winners from the 2025 Design & Packaging Masters, the place trendy luxurious meets performance.
For at the moment’s customers, a bottle’s appear and feel may be parallel to the spirit they maintain.
Whereas performance stays paramount, at the moment’s sprits packaging shouldn’t solely look stunning but in addition stand out in a aggressive market, be match for objective in houses and behind the bar, and, crucially, take sustainability critically.
Shoppers are additionally looking out for manufacturers that convey a narrative or message, which is translated into modern designs and an simply recognisable id, creating a way of authenticity.
A model’s greatest calling playing cards stay its attractiveness and talent to catch the buyer’s eye, typically the keys to the product’s success.
As a part of The World Spirits Masters Competitions (GSMC), six judges convened on the Ibis London Bridge resort for The Design & Packaging Masters 2025 to differentiate diamonds from the rhinestones.
Under, you possibly can check out 10 standout bottlings from the competitors that caught the judges’ consideration for his or her memorable and modern method.
The Grasp medal and Finest in Class winner Ensamble from mezcal model Perro Verde, proves that generally much less is extra in terms of design. The judges praised the “deceptively easy” green-tinted bottle for its elegant, trendy, artistic, and fashionable aesthetics, which led them to wonder if it was constructed from wild glass.
Based on the model, Perro Verde’s bottle design evokes the previous pots that after held mezcal, when it was first produced round 500 years in the past.
Giving an genuine, handcrafted really feel, the bottle stood out for its “intelligent embossed again design on the glass, which reveals clearly by means of the liquid” and a focus to element. The model’s daring, intriguing brand with inverted sort was praised for its character-giving properties, whereas the label’s intensive use of typefaces and the stylish stopper added to the design’s artisanal attraction.
All these parts got here collectively in excellent unison, making a standout bottle for each on- and off-trade. The timeless illustration of clean-lined luxurious Perro Verde Ensamble retails for US$130.
Welsh model Cygnet Gin, co-founded by classical singer Katherine Jenkins OBE, is understood for its tear-shaped, ‘lighter-weight’, handcrafted decanter.
The design for 77 – the model’s gin aged in Welsh whisky barrels with Manuka honey – amazed the panel with its elegant, engaging form, with additional credit for the elongated punt, which “evokes dialogue”. Standout packaging worthy of a Gold medal.
With a character that displays the model’s homeowners’ imaginative and prescient of basic opulence whereas embracing transformation, the bottle brings class to an evening on the opera. It has a recommended retail value of £129 (US$172).
“Grasp for the bottle, however Gold for the mixed field and bottle” was the decision from the judging panel for Spanish MG Destilerias’ Le Tribute Countryside Luxurious Gin, a part of the model’s restricted version high-end sequence.
The “very good” textured artwork deco bottle, which promotes reusability, presents an improve to Le Tribute’s commonplace gin,with trendy, elegant leather-based trimmings and a zamac plate. The vessel is paired with a Nouveau-style field, which though fairly, the judges felt broke simply when the bottle was eliminated.
Nonetheless, the design deserved its excessive marks and for these seeking to elevate their gin expertise, Le Tribute Countryside Luxurious Gin is obtainable for a restricted time in two codecs: with a present field for €75 (US$82) and a present set with glasses for €90 (US$98).
Hailing from India, Indri single malt from Piccadily Distillery introduced its A-game to the 2025 Diwali celebrations with a restricted version whisky aged in Marsala wine casks.
The field has a magnetic closure, whereas the bottle options stunning art work of elephants and Indian-inspired designs. The packaging then presents detailed explanations of the whisky’s inspiration.
The field was praised by the panel for its “good texture and wonder”, whereas the bottle’s heavy, tall design made up for its sustainability considerations with a sublime closure.
Finally, the packaging was awarded a Gold medal for its clear and fascinating depiction of India-inspired themes.
Final 12 months, Bacardi-owned Patrón Tequila was given its first package deal redesign since its launch in 1989. The brand new design stays true to the model’s immediately recognisable form and stopper, which the judges famous may be “recognised a mile away”.
Receiving reward from the judges for its textured sides that mimic agave piñas and the bottle’s orange neck tag, the design brings trendy sophistication to the favored Tequila model, refreshed and reborn.
Patrón Reposado retails for round £50-£55 (US$68-US$75) for a 700ml bottle, relying on the retailer.
Opposite to its identify, nothing is deceiving about Bluff London Dry Gin. Named after the port city of Bluff in New Zealand’s South Island, the gin’s design tells the story of its coastal environment.
The gin is offered in an ocean-inspired turquoise-coloured round-shaped container harking back to a classic fragrance bottle, with “attention-grabbing net-like embossing” and a picket stopper (plastic cork). The bottle’s aesthetics gained over the judges with its “very distinctive form”, which they stated makes it “look nice on a house bar”.
Bluff’s Grasp medal-worthy packaging and, after all, its Grasp medal-winning gin the hides inside may be skilled firsthand for NZD$89.95 (US$54).
Described as India’s ‘first’ aged 100% agave spirit, Goa-made Maya Pistola Agavepura is making waves outdoors its dwelling market not just for its wild Americana agave-derived flavour however for its trendy embossed bottle. The design stood out for its “tremendous cool, barely quirky” square-shaped bottle, which piqued the judges’ curiosity and earned it a Gold medal.
The design is impressed by a legend of the attractive goddess Mayahuel, who’s rescued by the God of Wind from her grandmother, the Goddess of Darkness. To cover from her grandmother, Mayahuel disguised herself as an agave plant, however was quickly discovered and killed. Grieving, the God of Wind scattered her leaves world wide, and the Indian Deccan turned out to supply the soil for her rebirth as Maya Pistola. Along with her 400 adopted rabbits, she launched into a journey looking for authenticity, purity, and reality. The embossing on the again of the bottle, seen by means of the spirit, depicts the goddess as an agave plant with lengthy, leafy hair.
Pistola Añejo is obtainable within the UK from The Whisky Alternate for £39.95 (US$53).
In Could 2025, Netherlands-based Bols celebrated its 450th anniversary by releasing a reimagined model of its Curaçao liqueur, Bols Blue 1575. Created in partnership with bartenders, the bottle is impressed by a standard drum and is designed to satisfy the requirements of contemporary mixology.
The panel praised the bottle’s performance for its “nice type, weight, and considerate design” as an “apparent step up from the usual”. Taking dwelling a Grasp medal, Bols rose to the highest with its sustainable method, with a bottle constructed from 50% recycled glass.
The elegant and sensible bottle is certain to make an impression within the on- and off-trade, and retails for £30.95 (US$41).
England’s northernmost distillery, Advert Gefrin, showcased its good style in additional methods than one on the Masters. For its Thirlings Northumbian Dry Gin, the distillery relied on a clear color palette, pairing white and black with pops of copper.
One of many judges commented on the Grasp medal winner: “Adore it. A lot consideration to element. There’s loads occurring, however it’s clear on the similar time.”
The design was additionally praised for the label’s off-white textual content, seen on shut inspection, and the parchment paper-like textured materials. The bottle additionally turned heads with its embossing, inverted dome on the backside, picket stopper, and genuine cork, including an additional layer of sustainability to the design.
Thirlings Gin is known as after a small settlement and a seventh-century fort within the space and goals to convey the Anglo-Saxon golden age of Northumbrian hospitality. Thirlings Dry Gin retails for £39 (US$53) in an award-winning 700ml bottle.
Impartial Scottish distiller Eden Mill’s restricted version 2025 bottling beneath its annual Artwork of St Andrews whisky sequence featured an illustration by native artist Deborah Phillips. Her work depicts Eden Mill’s new distillery silhouette in opposition to a dawn, framed by botanicals and flowers blown by the ocean breeze.
The panel praised the field’s stunning art work and the bottle’s search for their “clear label design” and “easy class”, which have been “distinctive with out being too difficult”. The bottle has a decanter-style design with a diamond label that includes fundamental information on the entrance and extra element on the reverse.
The design evoked authenticity and created an actual sense of place, incomes it a Grasp medal.
Eden Mill The Artwork of St Andrews 2025 is obtainable for a recommended retail value of £150 (US$205).
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