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Diageo unveils new Mortlach bottle design
By Becky PaskinDiageo has unveiled the bottle design and RRPs for its Mortlach single malt Scotch range, ahead of the brand’s re-launch later this year.
Diageo has taken design cues from Victorian enginnering for its new Mortlach range
The bottles, which have been designed in collaboration with design consultancy Raison Pure, are created using Victorian engineering design cues in tribute to Mortlach founder George Cowie.
Cowie, a Scottish civil engineer, built Mortlach as the first distillery in Dufftown in 1823.
The Rare Old and Special Strength bottles both feature a faceted glass base, while the 18- and 25-year-old bottles feature intricate metal structures inspired by Victorian architecture.
Georgie Bell, global brand ambassador for Mortlach, said: “Mortlach whiskies are a celebration of those audacious thinkers who shape and make today’s world, just as their forefathers did in the era in which Mortlach was born. These spectacular bottles help tell that story.”
All four expressions are due for release in June in London, Berlin and global travel retail in 500ml formats, and rolled out to “major metropolitan centres” in Asia Pacific in August. At the same time they will become available in the US in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, although in a 750ml bottle format for legal reasons.
Nick Morgan, head of whisky outreach at Diageo, said: “The bottles are strikingly different and I would call them decanters, not bottles. This range is all about redefining luxury in single malt whisky. The design and the size is part of all that intake.”
Diageo’s RRP for the range is £55 for Rare Old, £180 for Mortlach 18 Year Old, £600 for Mortlach 25 Year Old and £75 for Special Strength, which will be a travel retail exclusive.
As reported by The Spirits Business in December 2013, Diageo plans to re-launch Mortlach as a premium single malt whisky in the “luxury connoisseur market”
To aid the brand’s expansion, Diageo is investing £18m in doubling the annual capacity of the distillery to 7.6m litres of alcohol.