A dark bottle and a glass of rum on castle stone, lit by a candle
Mood plate, not client work. The work is below.

World III · Beverage alcohol

Castleblack Spirits

Premium Jamaican rum from St. Mary, carried by a story of heritage.

Sector
Beverage alcohol
Rules
AGCO, CRTC alcohol code, CFIA, LCBO
Where
St. Mary, Jamaica
Layers built
6 of 7 layers builtLore · Law · Language · Map · Artifacts · Machinery

The world

Castleblack Spirits is a premium rum distilled in St. Mary, Jamaica.

Its first brand leaned on pirate lore that did not land at home. The world was rebuilt around Jamaican heritage and flavour, with the same depth of story and none of the baggage.

What we built

Seven layers,
6 of 7 built

  1. 1

    Lore

    Rebuilt from a pirate theme that did not land at home into a heritage brand, with a new crest, narrative and brand guidelines.

  2. 2

    Law

    Labels and ads checked against alcohol rules, plus pricing and the distributor offer.

  3. 3

    Language

    A marketing strategy, social ads, photo and video, cocktail content and the sales deck story.

  4. 4

    Map

    The full website, a landing page and sales presentation tools.

  5. 5

    Ground

    Not built.

  6. 6

    Artifacts

    A label system with bottles and packaging sourced worldwide, plus barcodes, point-of-sale, cases, sell sheets and business cards.

  7. 7

    Machinery

    Ordering and distributor systems.

What changed

Castleblack now pours in bars, restaurants and hotels, and distributors have carried it to more than five countries.

From the work

The Castleblack rum range in a presentation banner
The Castleblack coconut rum label sheet
The Castleblack site on a laptop and phone
A Cuba Libre recipe card for Castleblack
A bottle of Castleblack spiced rum

The rules of this world

  • AGCOOntario's liquor advertising standards: no appeal to minors and no promotion of excess.
  • CRTC alcohol codeNo emphasis on strength, and no link to social, sexual or business success.
  • CFIALabelling rules for every can, bottle and case.
  • LCBOListing, packaging and promotional requirements for the provincial channel.

Brand worlds for spirits brands

Every world starts
with a Verdict.

Tell us what you’re building and we’ll show you what to fix first.