Chris OaksLarceny Bourbon: New Label Design in 2024
Larceny Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey announced a brand redesign this week, including the bourbon label and also a new slogan. The new campaign slogan is entitled “Seize Tonight.” This branding redesign will include both Larceny Small Batch and Larceny Barrel Proof. However, let’s get into the new Larceny Bourbon label!
The marketing campaign is intended to tap into the legend of John E Fitzgerald‘s bourbon lore, and inevitably also connect the two brands in a closer way. This elevates Larceny Bourbon within Heaven Hill’s portfolio, which is one of the most prominent lineups of bourbon in the world.
Pays Homage to John E Fitzgerald, aka Old Fitzgerald
The new Larceny bourbon label prominently displays the symbolic key and keyhole imagery, a nod to the Old Fitzgerald brand. The “Seize Tonight“ campaign is centered around the story of John E Fitzgerald, a US treasury agent in the late 1800s, who used his position to access whiskey aging warehouses. Fitzgerald used his position, authority, and ultimately his keys to access whiskey barrels to steal some of the best bourbon for himself. When it was time to dump and bottle these barrels, it was noticed that some of them were unusually light. These went on to become known around the distillery as the “Fitzgerald barrels.“ They had already been analyzed, so of course they were some of the best barrels in the rickhouse. That is, what was left of them.
Every great bourbon brand has a historic story to go with it, and of course you always stick to the story! This legend ultimately inspired the old Fitzgerald brand that is highly sought after today, and then spawned the Larceny bourbon brand. Larceny Small Batch was launched by Heaven Hill in 2012, and Larceny Barrel Proof followed in January, 2020. Nonetheless, the new bourbon label displays a stamp on the bottom highlighting its wheated bourbon mashbill. This contributes to the smooth flavorful profile which was made famous by W.L. Weller.
However, that’s only the beginning! This new Larceny Bourbon label features all kinds of hidden Easter eggs. Actually, one of the most intriguing features of this new packaging is not actually visible to the naked eye. However, it is printed with UV ink. This means the only way you will see the full picture is if you expose the bottle to UV or a black light. This is where the real story of Johnny Fitzgerald is revealed. This feature was designed to represent the fact that this story was essentially lost to history. The true story of this US treasury agent with an unstable taste for stolen whiskey actually came to light. This is an incredibly imaginative expression from the creative director who conceived this idea, props to the agency of record. Moreover, this new Larceny bourbon label resembles a page ripped from history books as if we are rediscovering it in 2024. The angle is marketing genius but also includes modern function such as a QR code on the back of the bottle.
Larceny Small Batch Label: Old Vs New
Like Old Fitzgerald bourbon, Larceny is made with a wheated mash bill instead of the traditional rye grain. That mash bill features a recipe of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% Marc malted barley. Heaven Hill Distillery states that the use of 20% wheat as the secondary grain is 25% more than the leading competitor. While we haven’t verified the statements, we’ll take them at face value, especially since they’re using the trickery of percentages instead of the raw numbers to drive the point home. Nonetheless, that’s 15% wheat from the “other brand” for those of you keeping score at home.
Larceny Small Batch is distributed nationwide with an MSRP of $28. However, we’re way more interested in the Larceny Barrel Proof expression which is released on an allocated basis three times a year for a $65 MSRP. That’s if the secondary market doesn’t get to it before you do!
