The women giving Scotland's oldest traditions a thoroughly modern makeover

Whisky and tartan have spent centuries serving as two of Scotland's most recognisable exports. Both carry the weight of tradition, ceremony and national identity, yet a new collaboration involving three women working across whisky, fashion and design is making the case that heritage need not be preserved in aspic to remain authentic.

Cask Trade, the whisky cask marketplace founded in 2018, has commissioned the Scottish fashion designer Siobhan Mackenzie to create its own officially registered tartan, which will make its debut not on a kilt or a catwalk but wrapped around a limited-edition bottle of single malt Scotch whisky from the Nc'nean distillery in the Highlands.

The collaboration brings together Cask Trade's Myriam Mackenzie, Siobhan Mackenzie and Nc'nean founder Annabel Thomas, three women operating in industries whose histories have traditionally been dominated by men. Their project combines two of Scotland's most enduring crafts while asking a broader question about what happens when national traditions are placed in new hands.

The newly created Cask Trade Tartan uses deep purple and gold drawn from the company's colours, while its founding year of 2018 has been incorporated into the thread count itself. The design has been officially lodged with the Scottish Register of Tartans, adding a new pattern to a tradition that has evolved over centuries from regional textiles into one of the most potent symbols of Scottish identity.

For Siobhan Mackenzie, one of Scotland's leading contemporary designers, the project represents her first whisky bottle design. Her work has previously sought to reinterpret traditional Scottish dress for a modern audience, and the collaboration continues that approach by taking an object associated with one historic national industry and placing it directly onto another.

"When I take on these kinds of projects, it has to be with the right partner, the right kind of design and, importantly, the right sentiment," she said. "I'm really happy with this collaboration and how all of these elements have come together."

The whisky itself is no mass-produced commemorative bottling. Cask Trade selected a single eight-year-old cask from Nc'nean, the organic distillery founded by Annabel Thomas on the remote Morvern Peninsula in 2017. Distilled in 2018 and matured in a shaved, toasted and re-charred red wine cask, it has yielded only 306 bottles at 54.5% ABV.

Nc'nean has established itself as one of the more unconventional names in modern Scotch whisky. It describes itself as Scotland's first 100% organic whisky distillery, is B Corp certified and has been verified as net zero for scopes one and two. Its emergence is part of a wider transformation of an industry that, while fiercely protective of its traditions, has increasingly embraced new approaches to production, sustainability and branding.

The resulting single malt carries notes of apricot, apple, citrus oil, red berries, honey and gentle spice on the nose, followed by dried fruit, vanilla fudge, baking spice and black pepper on the palate. The finish brings sweet oak, honey and further spice. Each bottle is priced at £65.

Yet the more interesting story lies beyond what is inside the bottle. Scotch whisky and tartan are both traditions whose global appeal depends partly on a sense of continuity with the past. The danger for any heritage industry is that reverence can become inertia, with innovation treated as an intrusion rather than a means of survival.

This collaboration takes the opposite view. The tartan is entirely new but created within the rules of an ancient textile tradition. The whisky comes from a relatively young distillery but is unmistakably Scotch. Even the bottle itself becomes a meeting point between fashion, craftsmanship, commerce and national identity.

"Unveiling the Cask Trade Tartan on a whisky bottle feels like a natural fit, but the project represents something bigger than tartan or packaging," Myriam Mackenzie said. "For us, it is about showing that Scottish heritage is a living tradition, shaped by collaboration, creativity and the people carrying it forward today."

There is also something significant in the fact that women are at the centre of the project. The mythology of Scotch whisky has traditionally been populated by male distillers, blenders, merchants and master craftsmen, while the modern industry has often had to confront perceptions of itself as an old boys' world. That picture has been changing, with women taking increasingly prominent positions across distilling, investment, design and leadership.

Annabel Thomas said she was honoured that Nc'nean had been chosen for the collaboration, adding that the project highlighted "the importance of the continued evolution of crafts deeply rooted in Scottish history".

A percentage of profits from the 306-bottle release will be donated to The Drinks Trust, which supports people working across the drinks and hospitality industries.

Scotland's great traditions have survived not because they remained untouched, but because successive generations found ways to make them relevant to their own time. A tartan designed in 2026 and an eight-year-old whisky from one of the country's younger distilleries may not carry centuries of history between them. But perhaps that is precisely the point. Every tradition, however ancient it appears today, had to begin somewhere.