Don Papa is his name, and he won Double Gold at this year’s 2013 San Francisco World Spirits Competition Packaging Design Awards. There’s a lot happening on that label. Fifty different types of insects and animals, to be precise. And there’s a whole lot happening in the bottle, just as you’d expect from a premium aged small batch rum from the isle of Negros Occidental in the Philippines.

A proper sugar cane daddy.

Last Thursday, we saw some of our latest designs walk the metaphorical Red Carpet at this year’s World Whiskies Design Awards. And, as it turned out, we did rather well. Three gongs for our designs, topped off with Best Design Agency. Cue group hug. Our winning designs were:

Best Blended Limited Edition – Flaming Heart

Best New Launch – The Entertainer

Best American Whisky – Jack Daniel’s White Rabbit Saloon

Thank you to all who voted for us, and especially those who choose us as their design agency. We love you all.

So, every year we produce an annual thank you gift for people we work with. Clients, friends, whatever – we make 300 of them. For years, it was (surprise, surprise) a bottle of something. We had bespoke absinthe, moonshine, you name it. But last year, to mark our year of doing more than just booze, we took a break from our usual Christmas bottle and gave out The Ultimate Deck. We’re talking 54 picture cards from Dan & Dave. The response was awesome.

So, for the first time ever we’ve decided to produce a very limited batch to be sold. And it is first-come-first-served.

The Ultimate Deck gift set in Collaboration with Dan & Dave is available for $200 + shipping. The box includes two gilded decks of cards, within custom made velvet pouches, contained inside the (very beautiful) box.

So if you want to play, simply email us at nyc@strangerandstranger.com

Your go.

1000 entries. 70 countries. That’s a challenge, alright. We entered a few of our latest designs into the recent International Spirits Challenge and won design awards for the following:

Last Vatted Malt

Compass Box Signature Range

Davna Czeri

Great King Street

Centinela 

Happy New Year.

Italians have long known the secret of spritz. Take a long glass of Prosecco, add a dash of Campari or Aperol and serve chilled, preferably overlooking St Mark’s Square. We know a man – let’s call him Jonny – who thought this would sell pre-bottled. At only 8% abv and priced at £6.99, he was on to something. We came up with suitably styled clothing for it and Jonny has spent the last few weeks travelling the country and getting people to taste it. As you can see, he doesn’t do things by halves. He is dressed as a Gondolier. And it’s working. 80 bottles sold in just a few hours in one store last week. Jonny be good.

St Marks Aperitivo d’Italia, £6.99, Waitrose.

It’s wine, but not as we know it. This is a product that we’ve worked on with Australian Vintage, a 5.5% carbonated moscato-based wine made to be served over ice. It comes in a 568ml crown-capped bottle and UK retail giants Tesco & Sainsbury’s snapped it up as a credible light wine alternative to cider and beer. Vinni has got a whole facebook/twitter/website thang going on too; we love. Vinni looks like this:

And offers helpful advice like this:

Like we said, it’s wine. Just not as we know it.

As you know, we had a good feeling about the wrapped bottles. But we didn’t expect the sales forecast to be DOUBLED already. Or stores to create displays like this one:

Or this one:

And one of our favourite very favourite reviews is by wine blogger XO Wino, who manages to liken drinking Curious Beasts to Christian Grey. Not kidding.

Happy Halloween…

We had an idea. Instead of putting more wines on the shelf with a label, grape variety and country on it, we thought about why someone might be buying that particular wine. Then we wrapped the bottle in paper covered with recipes, pictures and stuff relating to whatever that occasion might be. Like this:

There’s Bewitched, Curious Beasts, Candells, Schucks and Fuchsia, ranging from $12 to $50. And there’s more to come. The wines are brilliantly made by Virginia Lambrix at Sonoma-based Truett-Hurst. Safeway has just launched them, calling the range the most exciting thing to hit their shelves for years. The coverage in the US has gone nuts, properly nuts.

The wraps are 100% FSC certified, recyclable, re-useable and tear-resistant.

Bring it.

Unaccustomed as he is…

Just a few more awards, this time from The Dieline:

Editor’s Choice award for Spirit 13

Wine & Champagne 2nd place winner for Dearly Beloved

Thank you Dieline…really chuffed.

Witchery, in liquid form. It’s not hundreds of years old, though. It’s 2011 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley made by VML.

Sexy witch.