The Glenlivet taps renowned Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi for the first release in its new collaborative limited-edition, travel retail exclusive range, The Groundbreaker Collection.

Another day, another new travel retail exclusive. This time it’s the turn of The Glenlivet, which announced a new range exclusively for travel retail with the The Groundbreaker Collection. But unlike the usual ho-hum travel retail expression, this sees the Speyside whisky producer put forth a range that actually tells a different kind of story. Rather than focus on the usual back-slapping spiel about provenance and tradition, Glentlivet’s new travel retail collection instead focuses on collaboration.

The Groundbreaker Collection from The Glenlivet is set to be new series of single malts that collaborates with and celebrates creatives in various fields, with each release – according to The Glenlivet – spotlighting “original artists who, through travel, have set new standards in their artistic craft”.

The Glenlivet Groundbreaker Collection first release

The first release in The Groundbreaker Collection sees The Glenlivet collaborate with Red Hong Yi, a Malaysian artist based in Kuala Lumpur. Known as “the artist who paints without a brush”, Red imparts her signature technique of charring traditional Chinese pigment paper to create distinctive impressions for the packaging on the first release for the limited edition series called “Chapter One: The Journey Inward”.

Red drew on her own personal global travels, along with social causes and women in art, as key influences for this work, the packaging emblazoned with abstract red-hued silhouettes of the mountains of Borneo, the bustling streets of Shanghai, the the shores of Los Angeles and as well as the Livet valley in Speyside.

Mirroring her creative process is the spirit within the bottle. Finished in double-charred American oak and European red wine casks – a first for the The Glenlivet – the non-age statement single malt whisky offers ‘sweet notes of pear, toffee and vanilla, which pairs beautifully with the red berry fruits, cinnamon spice, ginger and dried fruits from the red wine casks’.

It is not revealed exactly what red wine casks were used in the cask finishing process.

“Chapter One: The Journey Inward” in Glenlivet’s The Groundbreaker Collection is priced at recommended retail selling price of US$100 and is available exclusively to travel retail customers initially with LOTTE Duty Free Singapore at Singapore Changi Airport, before being rolled to other select travel retail locations around the world.

[Image credits: The Glenlivet]


Art, travel and whisky collide in The Glenlivet's Groundbreaker Collection

Official Tasting Notes – The Glenlivet Groundbreaker Collection ‘Chapter One: The Journey Inward’

Colour Amber
Nose Fresh blueberries, juicy red apple, caramelised pears, glazed cherries, vanilla custard, orange peel, sweet oak char and crystallised ginger
Palate Juicy plums, ripe banana, raspberry jam, charred pineapple, creamy butterscotch, warm gingerbread, caramel wafer and nutmeg spice
Finish Warming, spicy and slightly drying


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