BY DEBORAH SMITH READ
Always dinner at the bar. A front-row seat to alchemy in action. I am transfixed, ogling drink after drink artfully crafted by the bartender in her starring role. In this theater for the senses, the experience is equal parts entertainment and education, but as a designer thirsty for inspiration, the stage behind the show is what I came for. Behold the backbar: a treasure trove of liquids from unapologetic peated whiskies and intriguing botanical gins to the bitterest amari and curiously sweet specialty liqueurs. I order up: “Can I get a closer look at that bottle?” My spirit guide obliges.
The exquisite vessel fits perfectly in hand. Effortless to pour, tinted with a precise hint of color that enhances a subtle glass emboss. It’s wrapped in toothy, thick uncoated paper, typography letterpressed deep. Engraved illustrations invite me to linger over tasting notes that romance how this boldly nuanced liquid was crafted, paying homage to the master distiller, blender, and all the people who made it so. I’m all in, and haven’t yet tasted a drop. I am secretly jealous of whoever created this bottle, perfecting anticipation of the complex liquid within. I ponder their process, inspiration, and the making of it. I ask for another bottle. And another. I am bound in a world of brand wizardry, until suddenly, the spell breaks.
THAT looks like it was made with AI.
You don’t have to be a designer to feel it. Often it’s obvious with generically constructed labels void of brand essence or visual story. Naked typography with little attention to embellishment, or far too much of it showing up in questionably mismatched fonts and nonsensical language. Sometimes it’s subtle with slightly cartoonish versions of a woodcut illustration or strangely disproportionate imagery defying perspective and laws of nature.
So how does a craft spirit brand survive in the age of AI?
From packaging to PR, design and branding created solely by AI models without context, oversight of equities, or creative governance may be doing craft spirits brands more damage than good. Consumers see it too. As they reach for their next whiskey, rye, or gin, if anything on a label or post whiffs of generated art that feels fantastical or messaging that falls flat, it earns a smirk and side-eyed second look. Authenticity and integrity are the hallmarks of craft spirits, so when a brand shows up in their feed, local bottle shop, or watering hole feeling less than genuine, it calls the whole thing into question, including, fairly or not, what’s inside the bottle. This can have real consequences in an industry already rocked by economic conditions and uncertainty.
Responsible and effective use for makers and the designers they hire comes down to taste and judgment. When your designer employs AI as a thought partner, it becomes an extension of their years as a trained professional, not a hapless robot running rogue with your hard-earned brand. AI helps designers gather category intel quickly and guide their conversations with real people in real life to surface what consumers care about the most. It sharpens how they sort brand positioning ideas, not create them from scratch. AI accelerates how designers explore visual ideas for proof of concept, then hands off to human illustrators and photographers to carry that creative intent to fruition as ownable IP. AI can bring original sketches to life in all their textured-paper and gold-foil-stamped glory but only after rounds of discerning dialogue with a trained model. It can proofread, check for TTB standards, and build mock-ups to preview how a new package might perform on that very same back bar from where this story began.
What you must know about creatives is there’s a liminal window of open space just after the first client brief. Ideas start flying rapid-fire. Words, pictures, and raw inspiration flash in the mind’s eye, each holding promise of a tagline, a story, a logo, or visual on the label. They sketch and scribble every piece and possibility, drawing on years of obsessing over hand-drawn letterforms, chatting up bartenders, loitering in specialty bottle shops, art museums, and design archives, bringing all of it to the label, post, or point-of-sale. They work from unique and unexpected places that a machine isn’t looking for, and AI could never get close to on its own.
It’s not just whether humans have the last word, but whether they had the first one and shaped the work through every stage. Brands that get the most value from AI don’t trade creativity for automated efficiency, settle for generative good enough, or go with what the first prompt spits out. When craft makers work with designers who build brands with nuance and soul, the brand’s authenticity stands true in a way AI alone can never taste or feel. What makes a bottle worth reaching for comes from people who understand why it matters. Creating a brand that invites trial, builds loyalty, and generates evangelism takes more than a model. It happens when we connect as human beings.
The integrity of craft spirits brands will survive this era of AI. The models are finally good enough to deliver quality when used with a discerning eye by professionals who deeply understand what craft stands for and vigilantly protect it. When brands use what AI is good at to make distillers, designers, and marketers even better at what they’re good at, the work will carry the integrity that craft has always stood for.
That’s a recipe worthy of all the liquid in the rickhouse.
Because the last thing you want is for someone to pick up your bottle and say, “THAT was made with AI.”
Deborah Smith Read is a founder, brand strategist, and creative director of MarketBrand Studios, working across spirits, food, beverage, and lifestyle brands. Outside the studio, she can be found bar hopping, store checking, and brand building in the San Francisco Bay Area