FDBusiness.com

Suffolk-based brewer and distiller Adnams has received two prestigious awards for its East Coast Single Malt Vodka. The 2015 World Vodka Awards named it Best Varietal Vodka, and the International Spirits Challenge 2015 awarded it a Gold Medal.

East Coast Single Malt Vodka, formerly known as Copper House Barley Vodka, won out over other entries in blind tastings, with judges enthusing about its soft, creamy elegance, nougat and glace cherry aromas, and a refreshing zing.

A strong new look for the bottle accompanies the name change, using clouds and seagulls in a nod to Adnams’ Southwold heritage and hand-drawn ears of barley to highlight the company’s artisanal approach to distilling. The new design, which follows a redesign of its Copper House Dry Gin in April this year, is screen-printed onto the bottles, creating a bold, bright image, centred around red, as is traditional for vodka labels.

Designer Lee Cook from CookChick Design says: “The new bottle design for East Coast Single Malt Vodka was conceived at the same time as the bottle for Adnams’ Copper House Dry Gin, so stylistically the two fit together as a pair and complement each other. We’ve achieved this by using a bold colour palette, adopting red as the main colour for the Vodka, which sits well in the Vodka arena, and blue for the Gin. With these new designs we have defined a unique character for Adnams’ core range of spirits, reflecting the brand’s individual approach to spirit making. The illustrations are inspired by Adnams’ hand-crafted approach to spirit production and unique grain to glass distilling method, and the image of the tractor on the Vodka pays homage to the locally-grown barley from which the vodka is made.”

Adnams Marketing Director, Emma Hibbert comments: “We’re so delighted that this success coincides with our re-launch of the Vodka, giving it a new name and look. With increasing emphasis being placed on spirit packaging, it is important for our products to remain individual in an increasingly crowded market.

“The new design is bright and modern, exciting on the eye, while also highlighting our point of difference from other craft distillers. We’ve had fantastic feedback for the new bottle design for both the Copper House Dry Gin and East Coast Single Malt Vodka, and the two sit fantastically alongside each other, on the bar or on the shelf.”