Milk Street Distillery
Milk Street Distillery in Branchville, NJ crafts a range of spirits, each with its own story.
Vexed Gin
This special gin is flavored with a bouquet of botanicals: herbs, flowers and citrus peels that come together in a spirit that’s as layered as its label suggests.
For the design, I imagined a page torn from a witch’s grimoire. I painted each botanical ingredient by hand in watercolor, then collaged them together digitally — including the centerpiece, the “Flower of Vexation,” a fanciful invention that doesn’t exist in nature but absolutely belongs on this bottle.
The typography was chosen to evoke late-19th-century botanical labels while remaining highly legible on the shelf.
The label is finished with lavender foil, which catches the light and adds a little extra magic.
War Penny Bourbon
The waxed top of each bottle of this bourbon is sealed with a steel penny from 1943.
I used a vintage magazine ad for war bonds for the background. The label is enhanced with silver foil and the distillers fill out the bottom portion by hand, depending on the barrels they use for each batch.
The Devil’s Bark
A Voodoo look for a spicy cinnamon and birch flavored whiskey. I drew the letterforms, the tree and the icons in a folk style. Mardi Gras beads hang from the trees like Spanish moss.
Label is enhanced with red foil for added spark.
Other Spirits from Milk Street Distillery
Black Vulture Vodka, Wooden Leg Gin and Dam Break Rye were the first products the distillers created. The labels follow the same format. Illustrations by Leen Zuydgeest.
Last Vestige is a newer product. I found an old article about Branchville, faded it out and created a deckled edge dieline to make the label look like it was made from a torn piece of newspaper. I drew the grain by hand. The logo is copper foil.
Kanpeki Vodka
Kanpeki is a Japanese word that means perfection. The vodka is made of polished grains of white rice, and the distillery owners wanted it to have a Japanese look.
We were able to commission calligraphy from a master calligrapher, Tsuyoshi Takemori, who I was put in touch with by Ms. Kamimura of the Japan Society in New York City. I drew a cherry blossom branch and refined it in the computer. You can see the parts come together below.
The bottles are silkscreened with three colors: white, black and purple.
