Laphroaig Ian Hunter

Agency: Studio Minerva
Executive Creative Director: Daniela Mihranian
Location: United Kingdom
Project Type: Produced
Client: Beam Suntory - Laphroaig
Product Launch Location: Global

Laphroaig’s success can be traced back to one man - Ian Hunter. As the last remaining family member to manage the distillery, he left a lasting legacy that can still be felt to this day. Ian Hunter Series is a rare collection of whiskies that will be released in 15 editions, each telling a key chapter to honour his legacy.

Ian Hunter was a visionary who played a significant role in Laphroaig's history. We were briefed to create a concept for an ongoing series that would tell his story and honour his legacy, whilst also delivering a unified platform to drive collectability for annual aged releases.

Taking inspiration from original brand documents and visitor’s books discovered in the distillery archives, we created a leather-bound book-style concept to house the bottle and create a ‘collection’ style aesthetic.

Book One of the series is a 30-year-old single malt matured in first-fill ex-Bourbon barrels, which is titled ‘Unique Character’. It forms the first chapter in the story of Ian Hunter and, as such, celebrates the man who introduced the now iconic American white oak barrels to our whisky-making process.

The edition is retailed in a white leather sleeve (a nod to the white oak barrels & a link to the brand’s visual DNA) with a beautifully crafted ‘hardback book’ style slide-out box inside. The book is finished with a beautifully crafted metal badge to hero the age statement and a hand illustrated barrel icon to allude to the content of the chapter. Attention to detail and craftmanship were of extreme importance in order to reflect the values of Ian Hunter and justify the premium price point.

Priced at £700 per 70cl bottle, only 4,800 bottles of The Ian Hunter Series: Book One were produced and available to purchase exclusively from the Whisky Shop and the Whisky Exchange. It is the first expression in a planned series of 15 to tell the full story of how and why Ian Hunter’s enduring legacy lives on in our liquid today.