Why Every Bottle is Different

I have spent a long time in this industry. Both sides of the bar.

I started on a management training programme, bar work, cellar work, learning the craft from the ground up before working my way through to general manager at some of the leading venues in the City of London. I have poured thousands of drinks, watched thousands of people enjoy them and thought for a long time about what a spirit brand could be if it was about more than just the liquid.

Do not get me wrong. The liquid has to be amazing. And it is. But I wanted more than that.

I wanted a brand that brought together gin, art, music, fashion and something genuinely collectable. A bottle worth keeping on your shelf long after the last pour. A bottle that told a story before you even opened it.

The idea had been stuck in my head for too long. I needed to bring it to life. Then the name came and that was the kick start I needed.

CAMPARI SKI JACKET

For the first collection I knew I wanted London. I have spent so much of my life in that city, working in it, drinking in it, loving it. But I did not want a generic London story. I wanted something with real energy and colour.

Then I remembered a Campari ski jacket I had growing up. Bright neon colours, bold graphics, completely of its time. That was the 80s. That was the energy I wanted to bring to the bottle. Neon street maps of London, vivid and alive, each one different, each one capturing a different corner of a city that was truly alive in that decade.

And every bottle hand wax sealed in hot pink. Every seal different. Because at Crooked Stance, no two things should ever be exactly the same.

That is not just a design decision. It is what the brand is built on.