BLACK EMERALD

Black Emerald, an ultra-premium single grain whiskey brand, had already established a striking bottle and label design - but lacked the strategic clarity and system needed to launch globally.

The challenge: build a verbal and visual identity that balanced tradition and bold modernity - avoiding Irish clichés while honoring its roots - and shape a compelling presence across print, digital, and ecommerce. The brand needed to connect emotionally with a global, culturally curious audience without compromising authenticity.

OhBEV created a full brand book and communication system, built around the core idea: “Modern Ireland, shared wherever you are.”

This included:

Multiple rounds of core ideology development: vision, mission, values, and verbal strategy refined with the founders
Brand truths, tone of voice, messaging pillars, personality, and audience profiling
A visual identity system built from the label’s marbled art - including custom textures, angular iconography, layout rules, photo art direction, and print/digital assets
Three-tier system: Product / People / Places, anchoring the visual storytelling
Fully responsive Webflow website, connected to Shopify & Smootify for DTC launch, trade partners, and ecommerce scalability

A global-ready identity system built for whiskey’s next chapter.

Delivered a cohesive brand system that translates from shelf to scroll
Built a high-end editorial-style website that feels as premium as the whiskey
Created storytelling tools - from patterns to icon systems - to support ongoing campaigns and retail expansion
Positioned Black Emerald for global rollout across Ireland, Australia, and beyond - with a bold, distinctly modern Irish identity built to scale

ingredients

Hennessy, Absolut, Johnnie Walker and many other brands perform at a high level over and over again. Why? It's not about the budget, but because of the 360 brand marketing excellence. And we have the right ingredients for this kind of success.