Monkey magic
Black Forest Distillers

Collaboration with
Black Forest Destillers and Discodoener
since 2015

Monkey47’s story started with an old dusty box uncovered by craftsmen while renovating a house in Berlin in the 1960s. Inside was a bottle labelled Max the Monkey Black Forest Dry Gin and a list of ingredients. What if the craftsmen had discarded the box? Then chances are Monkey 47 and its story would have been lost forever. More than 40 years later, in 2006, Alexander Stein heard about the box and began researching its origin. He discovered it had belonged to Montgomery Collins, the landlord of the former inn Zum Wilden Affen (Crazy Monkey). Why an English name, he wondered? Why the monkey? He delved a bit deeper and found Montgomery Collins was a British officer who’d helped rebuild Berlin, including the city’s zoo, after World War 2. He took a shine to Max the monkey, hence the name of his gin. Collins’ gin was not a huge hit. Perhaps it had just been a flirtation. But the list of ingredients testified to the high standards he’d set.

Alexander was intrigued. What a heritage! What a story! He contacted acclaimed distiller Christoph Keller who set about to perfect the recipe. In 2008, Alexander founded Black Forest Distillers and started producing Monkey 47.

Dirk Bamberger, the art director at Stuttgart-based agency Discodoener, clearly remembers the day he met Alexander. “He pitched up at the agency one day. He thought our name was catchy and told us about his gin project, which was still in its infancy.” There was no huge marketing plan, just the desire to make a really good gin. While Alexander and Christoph experimented with the 47-ingredient recipe, the designers experimented with various label designs.

“First it went in the modern direction, then reduced and then playful,” Dirk says. “Eventually it was agreed the label had to retain its original look. It was a long journey that eventually led to illustrator Sasa Zivkovic.” The result is a label that resembles a colonial stamp with serrated edges at the top and bottom, and old-style copperplate engravings. In the centre, the monkey scampers across a cranberry branch. Framing the label are botanical embellishments and parchment scrolls and on top sits a crown. “The label is reminiscent of a picture in the gallery of an ancestral home. Montgomery Collins was a member of the Royal Air Force, after all.”

The outline of the Taj Mahal unifies these elements. Flowing through the picture is a river. Is it the Indian Ganges? Or the Schwarza in the valleys of the Black Forest? Palm trees grow on the left, fir trees on the right, representing two regions that couldn’t be more different. Pinecones decorate the edge of the label.

A third of the 47 ingredients come from the Black Forest, including spruce shoots, sloes, blackberry leaves and the most important ingredient of all, cranberries. “There’s a great sense of innovation at Monkey 47, a willingness to tackle things and invest time,” Dirk says.