When the time came to launch Vintage 1967, the third addition to The Winchester Collection of limited-edition 50-year-old single malts and The Glenlivet decided to collaborate with a designer for the bottle and packaging for the first time, they got in touch with Bethan Gray. Inspired by her own family connections to the natural landscape that surrounds the distillery, long conversations with master distiller Alan Winchester, and the whisky making process itself, she designed a distinctive bottle and cannister that capture the essence of Vintage 1967.

Bethan’s grandfather was a research forester in the Cairngorms, home of The Glenlivet, giving her a direct connection to the area. She explored the natural landscape surrounding the distillery with Alan Winchester and created a unique reinterpretation of her distinctive Dhow pattern. The hand-stained birds-eye maple and solid copper inlay reflect the charred barrels and copper stills used by The Glenlivet in the whisky-making process.

‘The River Spey and the layers of mist that gather in the surrounding valleys provided the inspiration for the reinterpretation of my Dhow pattern that surrounds the bottle. The mother-of-pearl inlayed into the canister reflects the local freshwater pearl mussel shells indigenous to the river.’