FIVE HUNDRED CUTS BOTANICAL RUM

THE CHALLENGE

BrewDog were plotting to reclaim rum from the pirates. Instead of a sickly sweet spirit with a dubious nautical back story, they had created a handmade spiced rum flavoured naturally with botanicals. How could we launch a compelling alternative to the category’s big players? 

Exotic plants, a healthy dose of drama and a direct link to BrewDog’s Scottish backyard – the perfect story to launch the distiller’s botanical rum. Time to give Elizabeth her dues.  

We learned everything we could about Elizabeth, aka the original spice girl. No stone was left unturned, from viewing an original copy of A Curious Herbal to commissioning research from an Aberdeen historian. We discovered that although Alexander regained his freedom (with Elizabeth’s help), he later travelled to Sweden – leaving his wife behind in London – and was implicated in a plot to overthrow the king. In 1747, the hapless husband was executed. 

For the label illustration, Elizabeth’s influence loomed large. We needed a female artist who could pay homage to the original drawings by adding a contemporary edge. Cornwall-based Sarah Jane Humphrey rose to the task with an exquisite depiction of the rum’s ten botanicals. Additional features like the skull and executioner’s axe were included to reflect the darker side of the Blackwells’ story.

DISTILLER’S CUT

The story continued with Distiller’s Cut, a limited edition bottling that goes bigger and bolder on flavour. For the label illustration, we brought the doomed romance and macabre fate of Alexander Blackwell to the forefront with a large skull surrounded by botanical flavour cues.

Five Hundred Cuts launched with a tasting event at the Chelsea Physic Garden, where Elizabeth had studied samples for her drawings nearly 300 years before (her former lodging is just around the corner).