Ardgowan Expedition

Our aim was to create a pack design for a special limited edition that evokes the excitement of an epic adventure by a team of committed environmentalists.

The founder members of the distillery team had been involved in renewable energy and developed a zero-carbon snow melter to accompany polar explorer Robert Swan and his son Barney on the South Pole Energy Challenge. This showed the world it was possible to travel and survive in the earth’s most inhospitable environment without the use the Earth’s resources.

A bottle of very special aged single malt was brought to the South Pole and now forms part of the Ardgowan Expedition commemorative blend of malts.

Innovative techniques were specially developed for the packaging, such as a beautiful glass bottle with a metallic quartz coating to evoke explorers flasks. Typography is clean and contemporary. An embossed leather neck-tag is embellished with metal studs and is embossed with a silhouette of Antarctica.

The holding case is an elegant wooden box with recessed panels evoking packing crates. Warm wooden surfaces are laser etched and screen-printed. The case opens out to reveal the story of the expedition and to display the precious bottle on an elegant wooden plinth.