Behind the scenes of Brindiamo Tartan
Kentucky based whiskey partner, Brindiamo are one of the leading turn-key whiskey businesses in America right now. Their knowledge and passion for the industry, coupled with an ambitious and modern approach has helped them build a solid reputation and a business that has gone from strength to strength.
On a recent trip to Houston I chatted with Brindiamo Scotland Partner David Ferguson, where the idea of a Brindiamo tartan was first discussed. We spoke about the brand’s desire to strengthen relationships with Scotland and to visually show their commitment and bond to Scotch whisky.
Alan Moore with David Ferguson in Houston, Tx
After some initial conversations I got to work on a colour palette, I drew inspiration from stand elements that I felt summed up the core of the business;
Bourbon is stored in beautiful white American oak barrels which formed the base of my concept. I loved the contrast within the barrel itself; white oak, bound by galvanised steel rings with a dark and deep charring on the inside. The liquid can’t be overlooked and we spent several meetings making sure we had the perfect colour for True Bourbon, I was interested in it’s origin and the raw ingredients; I found a real similarity in colour between rye used in bourbon and barley used in Scotch, a very light off white tone with hints of yellow and green. I felt there should be a mention of Ireland in the tartan, a nod to Brindiamo’s business in Cork. For this we added a deep green colour with a shade of golden orange which we called Emerald Saffron.
Colours chosen I started to work on the actual sett design. I felt that the colours packed a great story, so my main focus for the sett was aesthetics, it had to look good. We considered a few different patterns, with some looking very traditional and some very contemporary. Within my research I kept coming back to images of whiskey barrels stacked on top of each other in rows and columns. Cask ownership and management is at the heart of Brindiamo, so I felt it fitting to try to recreate this within the sett. The strong horizontal lines stood out to me as a beautiful design feature, that should form the basis of the sett.
The Brindiamo tartan was initially woven by independent weaver Johnny MacKinnon, based in Glasgow. The design was handwoven and debuted at the World Whisky Awards in Edinburgh. The Brindiamo tartan is registered with the Scottish Tartan’s Authority and I am very much looking forward to working on products that incorporate the tartan and working closely with the Brindiamo team in 2025.
