The producer of a previous winner of the Scottish Gin of the Year award, Verdant Spirits will now not only provide the gin for the House of Commons team but will also offer training and tastings.
Verdant Dry Gin, which was crafted in Dundee’s first distillery for almost 200 years, fought off a shortlist of five from a number of UK national brands including incumbent supplier, Sipsmith.
Verdant won the prestigious tender after scoring top marks in the blind taste test and impressing judges with their presentation at the Houses of Parliament.
Their proposal, developed in collaboration with Dundee design agency Avian, put forward an entirely new visual treatment and packaging concept marrying the Verdant Spirits and House of Commons branding.
Bespoke boxed packaging was created replacing Verdant’s original graphics with a specially designed House of Commons treatment, with feedback from the House of Commons stating the judges were ‘blown away by the whole package’.
This marks only the second time the contract has been awarded since Sipsmith were chosen to serve back in 2016.
Andrew Mackenzie, founder and managing director at Verdant, said: “We spent two years researching and finessing the perfect dry gin and we firmly believe in our product, but it still felt fantastic to win out in the taste test. To really show our commitment to the process, we didn’t want to simply add a logo or brand to the bottle, we wanted to create a truly co-branded product.”
Scott McCallum, MD of Avian, said: “By creating an entirely new label and specialised packaging solely for the House of Commons, we retained the integrity of both the Verdant Spirits brand and the historic House of Commons identity, whilst also creating shelf appeal. This balance of both brands in one product really resonated with the judging panel as they recognised the all-out effort to secure this prestigious opportunity.”
Andrew added: “We hope that this exciting new development signals a significant opportunity for the Verdant Spirits brand to be elevated to the next level, and also highlights and encourages the further investment and partnership we are currently seeking.”
