Virtue Spirits · Barry Creative

Case study · 3D product visualization, animation Back to work ↗

Essence Single Barrel.A bear, a bull and a lot of gold.

Product renders and films for Virtue Spirits' two single-barrel whiskeys: a teal bourbon with a bear, a purple rye with a bull, both wrapped in gold foil. Labels designed at Whiskey Design, then built, lit and animated in 3D there by Mason Barry.

Client Virtue SpiritsStudio Made at Whiskey DesignLabel design Whiskey DesignRole 3D, lighting, animationTimeline 2022 to 2023

Overview

Two bottles, one foil system.

Virtue Spirits is a Michigan whiskey company started by the hosts of The Bourbon Junkies. Essence is its single-barrel line: one bourbon and one rye, each with its own animal and colour, sharing the same gold foil, the same wheat and the same "guide to your whiskey journey" story. Whiskey Design designed the labels; the 3D job was to turn that flat art into bottles that read as real glass, real whiskey and real foil, then put them in motion.

Client: Virtue Spirits, Midland, Michigan
Product: Essence Single Barrel Bourbon and Essence Single Barrel Rye Whiskey, 750 ml, non-chill filtered
Studio: Whiskey Design: label design, 3D product visualization and animation
Delivered: A teaser film, a gold-wax film, and a set of product stills: the pair, each label, the necks and the caps
Tools: Cinema 4D, Redshift, X-Particles

Flat to foilLabel build

Flat art in, foil out.

Whiskey Design drew the labels as flat print art. For 3D, each one was split into separate masks so the gold could take a brushed-metal foil, the teal and purple inks stay matte, and the lettering stays crisp, all wrapped on glass in front of the whiskey.

The flat bourbon label: a gold bear's head inside a barrel, ESSENCE in gold, teal ground, two standing bears, Single Barrel Bourbon — Bourbon label · Whiskey Design

The flat rye label: a gold bull's head inside a barrel, ESSENCE in gold, purple ground, two rearing bulls, Single Barrel Rye Whiskey — Rye label · Whiskey Design

The finished render: both labels on glass, the gold bear and bull in brushed foil catching light against the matte teal and purple — The same labels, rendered · Redshift

The guide to your whiskey journeyRuns up each side of the label and around the neck
From farmland to the bottom of the glassPrinted on the side panel, and the reason the set is a wheat field
Aged in new charred oak barrelsBarrel number and proof are written in by hand on each label

The rye and bourbon bottles stand together, full length, in front of out-of-focus golden wheat on deep navy — The pair · Essence Rye and Bourbon

The pairStills

Low, close, and lit for the foil.

The set barely changes from shot to shot: deep navy, a field of golden wheat thrown out of focus, and a raking key light that catches the foil. The camera stays low and close, so the label fills the frame.

Both bottles tilted toward the camera, the rye's icon medallions and the bourbon's standing bear on the side panels — Side panels · the pair

The bottles from the other side, the bourbon's bear head and the line From farmland to the bottom of the glass — Side panels · reverse

BourbonThe bear

Essence Bourbon.

The bourbon bottle tilted close to camera, the gold foil bear roaring out of a barrel above Single Barrel Bourbon — Bourbon · the bear · label close-up

The bourbon neck from below, the teal Single Barrel strip running down the glass — Single Barrel strip

Looking down at the bourbon cap: a gold disc with the bear in navy line art — Cap · the bear

The gold cap and the teal neck wrap printed with The guide to your bourbon journey — Neck wrap and foil cap

RyeThe bull

Essence Rye.

The rye label head-on: a gold foil bull with a ring through its nose, inside a barrel under ESSENCE — Rye · the bull · label close-up

The rye neck from below, the purple Single Barrel strip running down the glass — Single Barrel strip

Looking down at the rye cap: a gold disc with the bull in navy line art — Cap · the bull

The gold cap and the purple neck wrap printed with the guide line — Neck wrap and foil cap

The neckStills

Single Barrel, top to bottom.

Each neck carries a tall Single Barrel strip that ends in a gold foil tab. These shots stand the two bottles up full height, so the strip, the cap and the colour of the whiskey read together.

Two bourbon bottle necks in front of golden wheat, teal Single Barrel strips with gold tabs over amber whiskey — Bourbon necks

Two rye bottle necks in front of golden wheat, purple Single Barrel strips with gold tabs over amber whiskey — Rye necks

Gold waxAug 2023

Drowned in gold.

A second film takes the foil idea literally. Molten gold wax pours over the rye bottle and runs down the label, swallowing the bull until the whole bottle is gold. The wax is a fluid simulation built in X-Particles and rendered in Redshift.

Gold wax · 11 s · fluid simulation

Still: gold wax rolling over ESSENCE on the purple rye label — Gold wax · rye

Still: gold wax rolling over the teal bourbon label and the gold bear — Gold wax · bourbon

The teaserMay 2023

An essential addition to your whiskey collection.

The teaser cuts between foil close-ups of both labels and the pair standing in the wheat, then lands on the line above. Shown here without the original music.

Essence teaser · 19 s · silent portfolio edition

Credits

3D, lighting, animation, simulationMason Barry, made at Whiskey Design

ClientVirtue Spirits, Midland, Michigan

ProductEssence Single Barrel Bourbon and Rye Whiskey

Label designWhiskey Design

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