Elements Eight relaunches to highlight craft roots

Rum brand Elements Eight is relaunching with a slimmer portfolio and new packaging that highlights its artisan credentials.

The range has cut its cocoa rum and now comprises three skus – Platinum, one of the first aged white rums, which is aged for up to four years in Bourbon barrels before being charcoal-filtered to remove the colour, Elements Eight Exotic Spices, which contains a mix of ten fruits and spices, and the renamed Elements Eight Vendôme. The new name references the Vendome still – a cross between a column and pot still, which comes from Louisville in Kentucky and is used to create the rum, before it is ged for up to six years in Kentucky Bourbon barrels.

The packaging is a radical departure for the brand, which was launched in 2006 in tall, square, sleek modern bottles, and has been designed to place greater emphasis on its small batch production.

“The contemporary feel, a key part of the brand’s identity has been evolved, whereby the bottles are shorter and the foiled label design reflects the hand-crafted ethos of the rum,” the company said.

UK-based founder Carl Stephenson, who has previously worked with Allied Domecq, Moët Hennessy and Wray & Nephew, said the rum category had seen very strong growth, particularly in the super-premium sector. “From the outset, our approach has been artisanal, working with St Lucia Distillers, investing in hand crafted production and slow ageing. The new approach will better emphasise these artisanal, craft credentials which really resonate with today’s spirits drinkers,” he said.

Elements Eight, which is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, blends its rum from eight single distillery rums. It is distributed in the UK by Mangrove.

Mangrove’s managing director Nick Gillett said it was the “perfect way” to celebrate a rum which had “set the category alight” with its previous bottle design.