Southern Distilling

Southern Distilling Co. already had a lot going for it — an innovative process extending years of tradition, growing distribution, award-winning products, and a commitment to reinvigorate their local community and reignite North Carolina’s proud whiskey tradition. It’s one thing to make delicious bourbons and rye that North Carolinians can be proud of. It’s another to make sure the brand reached the same high standards founders Pete and Vienna set for their products.
Southern Distilling looked to Fort West to provide them with the tools necessary to tell its unique story — reigniting the storied distilling tradition of Statesville, NC the pre-prohibition liquor capital of the world. They needed a design and communication system that would support the promise that the founders made to themselves and their audience: Savor the Moment.
These moments had to support the creation of all internal, external, B2B, and consumer communications between their internal and external creative teams. We built a brand design system and corresponding asset library that ties a direct link from the region’s pre-prohibition past to Southern Distilling’s active participation in crafting American whiskey’s future. Each communication transports the audience to a place where the spirits can be savored and new history is being made. Everything had to feel authentic and genuine to Statesville, its whiskey-soaked history, and the distillery that is helping to revitalize it.
We did a deep dive into the prohibition archival public domain and created a visual thread that both harkened back to Statesville’s heyday and the promise of its future. Southern Distilling’s extraordinary blend of tradition and innovation is the stuff of future legends. Or as we like to call it, Modern Folklore. We wove that thread through every fabric of the brand, from visual systems and brand toolkits to web pages and social posts.
We also created a massive content library that would transport the audience to the place where new history is being made. These ownable photography assets tell their story in the gritty and textured aesthetic that defines Modern Folklore, and through the front-porch bourbon moments of Statesville.