The Week of Reek

Peat Week is an annual festival put on by Westland Distillery that celebrates all things peat. Hosted at the distillery during the production cycle of their peated whiskey, the heavy smoky smell hangs in the air and permeates every aspect of the event. Each year culminates around a commemorative bottling of a limited special edition of Westland’s Peated American Single Malt Whiskey, a favorite among avid collectors and casual whiskey drinkers alike.

Beyond the commemorative bottling, the campaign for each year is extended into print ads, wild postings, social media assets, digital marketing materials, merchandise, presentation and sales materials, and event materials. All of this promotes the events of the week-long festival: cocktail competitions between prominent local bartenders, whiskey symposiums hosted by the Master Distiller, live music, food, midway games and other circus themed shenanigans.

Our concept for the artwork is to highlight interesting aspects of the circus experience but always through a new lens for each campaign. One year focused on the characters from the sideshow and the hand painted canvas banners that advertise them, another explored the aesthetic of vintage comic book and budget newspaper advertising promoting the various performers. A third interpretation focused entirely on the story of a single character—an escape artist and the details of his act—a death-defying escape from fortified whiskey casks. Through it all is the boisterous, hyperbolic ballyhoo of the carny barker which creates a foundation of entertaining nonsense and sets the tone for each campaign.