Trøve: a treasure trove of flavours

A treasure trove of flavours

By Chris Joscelyne, Marketing Manager, Butterfly Cannon

How Butterfly Cannon captured the maverick nature of the fanatical about flavour, lower ABV, botanical vodka spirit brand, TRØVE.

he shift towards a more balanced lifestyle continues to grow, only accelerated by the pandemic. As part of this, we’ve been rethinking not just how much we drink but also what we drink. The low and no alcohol sector has been gaining traction as it shows that moderation doesn’t have to mean compromise.

Tapping into this trend is TRØVE, a new range of lower ABV, calorielight, botanical vodka spirit drinks from premium drink brand owner Distil Plc. Big on flavour, low in alcohol, TRØVE is distilled with real fruit and botanicals. The range includes Raspberry with Lemongrass & Mint, Valencia Orange with Lime, and Green Apple with Ginger – carefully selected pairings that unlock and amplify natural flavours to ensure the 100% natural, vegan, glutenfree, zero sugar, 30% ABV drinks are as complex and have the same mouthfeel as full-strength spirits.

Distil came to us to build a brand around this unique product story that stood out in the growing low and no alcohol category and was a natural fit for their highend spirits portfolio. We saw the opportunity to centre this around the master distiller’s obsession with getting every last drop of flavour from the fruit, even if this means raising a few eyebrows with his radical botanical combinations. “Fanatical about Flavour” became the brand story and the foundation of everything we designed.

For Butterfly Cannon’s Creative Director, Arron Egan, “What sets TRØVE apart is its amazing master distiller who is literally obsessed with flavour. The brand name TRØVE alludes to the treasure trove of flavours that the master blender has at his disposal and also his unwavering knowledge of flavour. His obsession and excitement inspired us to create a brand and packaging design that reflects this fanatical emotion through an illustration style that conveys the same energy and passion.”

Juicy, hand-painted watercolour illustrations of fruit on the label bring the all-important taste appeal and capture the hands-on, traditional skills of the master distiller, but are sliced up and mashed up with graphical patterns, creating a contemporary collage of explosive taste. This leaves no doubt about his unconventional, maverick approach.

At the heart of this flavour explosion sits the brand word-mark – layering up the unconventional edginess with dramatically modern, sans-serif letterforms featuring angled cuts.

The ownable ‘Ø’ of TRØVE interacts with the sliced fruit illustrations and can also be used as a standalone device for digital.

It was great to work with a client like Distil who was completely on board with making the most sustainable choices and working with our Conscious Design™ process. For the label, we chose Fasson rNaturel Blanc label material from Avery Dennison. Made from 100% recycled content, the uncoated FSC® certified paper has a fine felt marked texture that takes a range of finishes very well.

For the printing and finishing, we worked with Royston Labels. Digitally printing the labels, they added orange as a fifth colour for increased vibrancy and standout. The craft, uncoated nature of the paper stock required extra care and attention but allows for premium levels of foiling and embossing. The logo was screenprinted with a high-build varnish, with deliberately offset gold foil key lines which provide a bold modern twist and intriguing tactility.

Chosen from the Titus range by Allied Glass, the bottle is angular, smooth, chunky and easy to hold, lending itself to the perfect pour whether in the bar or at home. It also allows for an oversized label to catch the eye in the growing lower ABV market. The finishing touch is a pale blond wooden cap, which is a reminder of the craft that has gone into delivering fullon flavour that is light in calories and ABV.

Our thinking was collected into brand guidelines that are being used to roll out the brand identity across comms as TRØVE builds on the success of gold and silver medals at The Spirits Business Low & No Masters 2021.

Kate Alexander, Marketing & Operations Director at Distil, says “As always, it’s been a pleasure to work with Butterfly Cannon. Their brand identity and packaging designs for TRØVE beautifully capture the intense, natural fruit flavours that are distilled into the heart of our liquids, with the right lightness of touch for our low ABV, low-calorie botanical spirits. As we rethink the way we drink, the new lower ABV category is set to continue to grow. With its maverick design, TRØVE is perfectly positioned to lead the charge in the high-end, low alcohol spirits category.”

As we rethink the way we drink, the new lower ABV category is set to continue to grow.