Top 10 artistic spirits bottle designs

The spirits industry has livened up the back bar in recent years with an array of intricate, bold, wacky and dazzling bottle designs inspired by the world of art.

This is our pick of the top 10 artistic spirits bottle designs

While some designs have been hand-engraved with a bespoke work of art, others offer a unique perspective on already well-known pieces.

Usually released as very limited editions, these art-inspired bottles can form part of brand’s wider marketing campaign, but others simply offer a prestigious addition to their range.

At the luxury end of the scale, John Walker & Sons unveiled an ornate crystal Scotch whisky decanter earlier this year, while Cognac house Martell accompanied its new €10,000 blend with a piece of minimalist steel artwork.

Ballantine’s and Hennessy partnered with modern artists to offer bright and bold limited editions, as Disaronno merged the worlds of fashion and drinks with its latest design.

Click through the following pages to discover our selection of the top 10 artistic spirits bottle designs.

The John Walker Philip Lawson Johnston Limited Editions

Johnnie Walker is known for its unique limited edition bottle designs, but these hand-graved decanters are some of its most ornate and intricate. Created in collaboration with Philip Lawson Johnston, specialist hand engraver of glass by appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, the range is “inspired by classical Scottish tradition” and features one of two designs – the scene of the “Classic MacNab” from the novel John MacNab, and “Distillery Heritage” which pays homage to the art of whisky making. The editions were made exclusively available at the Johnnie Walker House embassies.

Ballantine’s INSA bottles

Created in collaboration with “GIF-iti” artist INSA, this 12-strong range of hand painted limited edition bottles have been filmed to create an animated GIF. Created as part of Chivas Brothers’ bid to find “new ways to present the brand in a digital space”, the unique bottles feature INSA’s trademark “Looking for Love” inverted hearts. Once completed, each bottle was photographed and then edited to create the GIF.

Hennessy Cognac VS Limited Edition

Adding to its substantial range of limited edition bottle designs, Hennessy Cognac unveiled a unique decanter created in collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist Ryan McGinness just last month. Released to celebrate the brand’s 250^th anniversary, the fluorescent bottle features a “radiating pattern” in bright fluorescent colours that illuminate when the bottle is placed under a black light. It was released as part of an art-inspired series of Hennessy bottles, which features the work of acclaimed artists including KAWS, Futura, Os Gemeos and Shepard Fairey.

Campari Art Labels

As part of its Art Labels series, Campari released a limited edition run of bottles featuring a modern interpretation Fortunato Depero’s historic sketch of a Campari pavilion – designed in 1933 for an international exposition held in Milan, but never built. Reimagined with the choice of three different colour labels – orange and cyan, magenta and lime green, and purple and yellow – the labels were created in collaboration with Italian colour expert Francesca Valan.

Martell Premier Voyage

Cognac house Martell kicked off celebrations for its 300^th anniversary with the launch of a limited edition €10,000 blend bottled in a Sèvres crystal decanter and accompanied by a minimalist steel artwork by French artist Bernar Venet. The Cognac itself, of which just 300 bottles were released, is a blend of 18 eaux-de-vie sourced from winegrowing families whose ancestors supplied Martell in 1735-1742. The Cognac was then further aged in barrels crafted from a 300-year-old tree.

Disaronno Versace Edition

In October last year, Disaronno Liqueur partnered with luxury fashion house Versace to launch a limited edition bottle inspired by the Versace Home Collection. Featuring a light blue background with a white and gold motif design the bottle targets the gifting market. Part of the proceeds from bottles sold were donated to the Fashion 4 Development campaign.

1800 Tequila Essential Artists Keith Haring

In honour of Keith Haring, 1800 Tequila launched a limited edition run of bottles featuring six designs by the late artist. Released as part of the brand’s Essential Artists collaboration, which sees the of work iconic designers presented on a series of special edition 1800 Tequila bottles, the bright, eye-catching range also raised awareness about socio-political themes, such as AIDS, drugs and violence. Other artists to have their work feature on 1800 Tequila bottles include Jean Michel Basquiat, Gary Baseman, Studio One, and Shepard Fairey

Emory Vodka

This new vodka brand not only features the work of an artist on its label, it is also named after him. Launched by a Massachusetts-based marketing firm in May this year, Emory Vodka is inspired by New York artist Blake Emory, and features his Zebra Love design on its bottle. It is hoped the design will “form tremendous brand recognition” for Emory Vodka, described as 100% corn and gluten free.

Suntory Whisky Akira Isogawa gift set

Created in collaboration with Japanese-Australian designer Akira Isogawa, this limited edition gift set features a Suntory whisky bottling and a traditional Japanese gift-wrapping linen cloth, called Furoshiki. Akira’s inspiration for the scarf’s design is said to stem from the role water plays in the creation of whisky and its pattern “signifies the passage of water in nature”.

Rhum Clément Limited Edition

In collaboration with renowned street artist JonOne, Martinique agricole rum Rhum Clément launched a limited edition graffiti bottle to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Hand-designed by JonOne, the VSOP bottle features eye-catching street art. After first launching exclusively in France in autumn 2013, the bottle rolled out to the global markets in limited quantities last year.