8 Doors Distillery

A local legend inspires Scotland’s most northerly mainland distillery.Working closely with founders Kerry and Derek Campbell we created a whisky brand which feels premium but also accessible - harnessing the uniqueness of the distillery’s location and expressing this in every small detail. 8 Doors Distillery is a new whisky micro-distillery set to open in John O’Groats in 2021. The £1 million project will establish the first whisky producer in the Caithness village since 1837 and become Scotland’s most northerly mainland whisky distillery. The inspiration for the 8 Doors Distillery name and branding comes from the legend of Jan de Groot, from whom the village of John O’Groats takes its name. De Groot, a Dutchman who once plied a ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney (1488-1513). Legend states that De Groot’s seven descendants quarrelled about succession, so he decided to build an octagonal house with eight doors – one for him and each of his seven sons.This provenance allowed us to create a brand which references its Scottish roots in a clean modern way -  authentic, distinct and quite separate from the established image of Scottish whisky.The distilleries extreme northerly location informs the positioning - ‘Whisky. From the Edge’.  Similarly the 874 Founders Club is named after the distance in miles from John O'Groats to Land's End.The design is inspired by the natural environment and climate - identity, colour palette, typography and textures all combine to create a sense of the rugged isolation found at the very edge of the Scottish mainland.