In 1972, with the authorities of half the world on their backs, The Rolling Stones landed in Kingston to record Goats Head Soup. It was the start of a fifty-year love affair with Jamaica, its music and its people.

Crossfire Hurricane celebrates that bond. Named after the opening line of Jumpin' Jack Flash and owned by the band with Universal Music Group, it's a super-premium rum blended from four of Jamaica's most celebrated distilleries, crafted with rum authority Ian Burrell.

Ahead of a global relaunch with a new identity and liquid, Crossfire Hurricane asked us to design and build a website that would do two jobs at once: tell one of rock's least-known stories, and sell rum.

Celebrity drinks brands are everywhere, and most have little more than a famous face on the label. Crossfire Hurricane had something rarer: a genuine story, deep liquid credentials and the band's backing. The website needed to prove that within seconds.

But this wasn't a brand site in the usual sense. Unlike most spirits websites, Crossfire Hurricane sells direct to consumers, so every page had to earn its place in the journey to checkout. Too much story and buyers lose the bottle. Too little and the brand looks like every other celebrity launch.

Behind the scenes, the brand was selling across separate US, UK and European stores, with different fulfilment partners and a platform that had outgrown its first launch. With most visitors arriving on their phones, the new site needed to be mobile-first, ready for new markets, and live in time for the relaunch.

We started with the story. Working with the brand team and their editorial partners, we distilled decades of history into three pillars: The Rolling Stones in Jamaica, the island itself, and the rum. The Stones in Jamaica became the headline, with Jamaica's people, places and culture woven through a journal designed to grow with the brand.

From there we designed an architecture that lets people choose their depth. Fans can dig into the story, the band's connection with reggae royalty and the distilleries behind the blend. Buyers can head straight to the bottle. Cocktail recipes sit in their own quick-reference section, each with a story of its own, from the Jamaican Sunrise to the Old Fashioned.

Building on the new identity created by Fred & Farid, we brought the brand's sound system inspiration to the screen. Speaker motifs, archive photography from the 1972 sessions, film and warm Caribbean colour give the site a feel closer to a vintage record sleeve than a spirits brochure.

The site is built on Shopify Plus and runs UK and European markets from a single store with local currencies, while a separate US store keeps fulfilment simple, with visitors automatically routed to the right one. Private product links let the team sell legacy bottles to loyal fans without cluttering the main shop.

You've got a story worth telling and a product worth buying, but most websites force you to choose between them. Brand sites inspire and don't sell. Shops sell and don't inspire.

The best direct-to-consumer brands do both, letting people go as deep as they like while keeping the path to purchase clear. That's what we built for Crossfire Hurricane. If you're trying to do the same, we'd love to hear about it.