Their Art of St Andrews 2023 single malt was awarded in the whisky category, with judge Alastair Cliff, strategy director at design agency Here commenting: “A clear concept, beautifully executed. The artistic design by Jill Calder is richly detailed, and strongly evokes a sense of place. The jewels on the bottle are beautifully done, and the aligning of the label is of very high quality. Strong, confident, bottle shape.”

This is a collaboration we look forward to every year - a real opportunity for us to do something really creative and unique in this sector. We were delighted to commission Jill, who is local to the distillery, and work with her as she crafted a bespoke piece of art for the box that we designed in 2018 for the first Art of St Andrews release. Jill said about the piece: “I kind of pulled my inspiration and influence from location, from the flavours in the whisky…every single word about that grassiness and vibrancy and smoky sweetness…every one of those made me think, OK, colour or texture or, you know, combination of things. How can I play with that?”

We worked with director Nick Afchain and videographer Gavin White to create a promotional video for the release which captured the stunning setting of St Andrews and the new distillery, capturing a conversation between artist and distiller on their inspiration and process.

The 2023 release is lightly sweet on the nose, thanks to being finished in cognac casks. Scott says:

“What I've aimed for is to really balance the peatiness out with sweeter, fruity notes via cask finishing. Kind of reining the smokey influence; smooth it out around the edges. It’s a sweet, smokey, shortbread kind of profile. Something that's accessible to everyone.”

Read more on this collaboration here and our previous brand work on Eden Mill whisky here.