Hendrick’s — “A Most Unusual Gin”

“Unusual” is an… unusual way of describing a gin. But “no other gin tastes like HENDRICK’S GIN because no other gin is made like HENDRICK’S!”

Younger than it looks

Positioning themselves as a gin made oddly, Hendrick’s quickly gained popularity and became a household name after being founded in Scotland in 1999. I am not much of a gin person but I absolutely love their unique apothecary bottles and use of vintage designs. Whenever I come across one, either online or in-person, I always get the impression that Hendrick’s is a classy and distinguishable brand that has been curating its products for as long as Gordon’s but to my surprise, Hendrick’s was only launched in 1999. Though the brand is pretty much a baby compared to its predecessors, Hendrick’s consistent use of distinctive apothecary bottles and use of Victorian-era themes in its marketing disguises the brand’s youth.

Despite Hendrick’s age, the brand needs no introduction nowadays and their gin is absolutely a force to be reckoned with. This Scottish distillery helps to modernize and innovate the gin category with a floral recipe that includes prominent notes of cucumber and rose in the mix of botanicals used. Having voted one of the best gins in 2021, let’s check out some quick facts about the gin brand:

• Practice makes perfect: Hendrick’s recipe was began crafted in 1988 though it wasn’t until 1999 that the cucumber and rose infusion clicked and Hendrick’s Gin was born
• Quality first: Committed to small-batch, high-quality gin, Hendrick’s master distiller Lesley Gracie, makes only 500 liters at a time to control production
• 13 is Hendrick’s lucky number: Their unique flavor comes from its use of 13 ingredients (Bulgarian roses, cucumbers, and 11 botanicals, including juniper, coriander, orange, lemon, angelic, orris root, cubeb berries, caraway seeds, chamomile, elderflower, and yarrow)

Hendrick’s website… let’s check it out!

In this age of digitalization, most businesses must have a memorable online presence to succeed. Without a well-planned and executed website UX, one’s business can suffer from a lack of sales, brand identity, and consumers retention rate. Let’s head over to Hendrick’s website and check it out, shall we?

A little scroll shows that their online presence definitely aligns with my first impression of their gin bottles and certainly does not disappoint. Hendrick’s website teleports me into a magical and whimsical world of the Victorian era. Filled with vintage-inspired fonts and designs, Hendrick’s certainly knows how to build their brand identity and appeal to the consumers. To further evaluate Hendrick’s website UX, let’s make a pros-and-cons list!

PROS:

• Easy navigation: navigating through Hendrick’s website feels like a walk in the park thanks to its simple and accessible layout. Each click story-tells and takes you on a Victorian-era journey as it introduces its products and what refreshing cocktail recipes could be made with them… Every part of the website feels purposeful and user-centered while staying true to its brand identity.
• Innovative design: Hendrick’s website feels almost therapeutic to my eyeballs thanks to its whimsical artwork. I greatly enjoy the aesthetically pleasing vintage-inspired design and their animated backgrounds. Overall, the entire website is an absolute pleasure to use. The classical theme is carried throughout the site for every little detail, check out these “framed” cocktail recipes!

• Enforced brand personality: Hendrick’s keeps the brand identity perfectly consistent through their website. Positioning themselves as “A most unusual gin”, Hendrick’s enforced their idea of being “unusually peculiar”, “unusually delicious”, to having “unusual flavor” as the results of an equally “unusual distillation”. The brand’s iconic infusion is also reinforced through the emphasis on roses and cucumbers artwork, as well as the consistent use of Victorian-era themed designs.
• Convertable website UX: by navigating through Hendrick’s website on both desktop and mobile devices, I learned that their website UX is compatible across platforms, making the consumers’ online experience very convenient and transferable.

CONS:

• AI not available: even though AI is not a completely necessary component to a website’s functionality, it is undoubtedly helpful to have to both the businesses and their consumers. In this age of digitalization, AI could help improve customer service, reduce costs, strengthen brand loyalty and even streamline the purchasing process.
• Reviews inaccessible: as a potential consumer, I would love to check out some reviews on their website. Hendrick’s website, however, allows me to write but not view their 2857 online reviews (although it seems to offer the option to). This could likely result in a loss of sales due to the fact that 89% of consumers read reviews before purchasing and 62% of consumers do not purchase from brands that engage in review censorship.

As previously stated, Hendrick’s website teleports me into a magical and whimsical world of the Victorian era. Despite some downsides that I found about the website, the curated artwork and creativity of the designs are hard to beat!

Hendrick’s certainly knows how to entertain, fascinate and appeal to consumers. Their “unusual” gin storytelling, playful creations, and animated artwork kept me intrigued and wanting to learn more. I don’t know about you but I usually don’t go for gin, yet their website certainly makes me want to try a drink or two.

If you reached here, thanks for reading! And check out Hendrick’s to let me know what you guys think!