Acclaimed multi-award winning sparkling winemaker Natalie Fryar has a new passion…Gin. Teaming with fellow Gin lover Kim Seagram, whose family heritage is synonymous with alcohol production, two girls and a still in the back of a Launceston airport shed became the Abel Gin Company.

The two are passionate about offering a distinctly Tasmanian Gin as close as possible to the purity of the base spirit, overlaid with supporting botanicals to define flavour and tonality. The hyper-small scale distillery’s driving ambition for purity is reflected in their mood-based idea to present their Gin as two sides of the same coin: a distinctive, yet differentiated, pigeon-pair.

Tucker Branding was engaged to realise their ambitious undertaking by creating two identities: ‘Essence’, a light, fresh, brisk and open Gin, and ‘Quintessence’, a more complex, elemental, thoughtful and filigreed Gin.

A distinctive bottle design was a perfect choice to present what essentially resulted in a day & night approach to the two distinct Gins

The design on heavy, premium stock, features looping calligraphic initials in embossed copper that are bold and stark, conveying beauty, depth, distraction and detail. Essence reassures mainstream, informed, and expected detail with a palette of green to reflect lemon leaf, bush sage and cool, fresh tones. Quintessence meanwhile, conveys elusive detail of surprise that engages but remains unidentified via its use of burnt orange for warmth, exotica and mystery.

‘Native Tasmanian Gin’ playfully creates a new category and sets a tacit challenge to the brand: that Abel Gin cannot be made anywhere else in the world and is truly a Gin from somewhere, rather than anywhere.