The Good Reverend’s Universal Spirit

Agency: Quaker City Mercantile
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Packaging contents: 151-proof neutral grain spirit
Packaging Materials: Glass

The Good Reverend’s Universal Spirit is a 151-proof, neutral spirit distilled in-house from organic New England corn. It is intended for a variety of uses — infusions with herbs, fruits and spices to create custom blends, or mixed and diluted to make household cleansers and aromatic sprays.

The label and bottle design for the Universal Spirit reflects its truly universal nature. To begin with, the bottle itself was custom molded to conform to the Golden Ratio (a mathematical expression of designs found in nature, adopted as a guiding principle in early art and architecture). Every inch of the label, both inside and out, is covered in symbols spanning centuries — from ancient Egyptian alphabets to tarot card symbols to Platonic solids. In particular, it plays with the way many of these traditions correspond numerically.

For example:
4 – corners, directions, elements, seasons, evangelists, winds, and alchemical signs
7 – chakras, days of the week, alchemic symbols, and archangels
12 – months in the year, and signs of the zodiac

The bottle was designed and illustrated by the Good Reverend himself, Rev. Michael Alan. (His art may be familiar to you, as it also graces the labels of Art in the Age Craft Spirits, another Steven Grasse creation.)