Glenmorangie unveils sculpture to celebrate 20 million bottles at its bottling plant

By Erin Smith

Published: 03 December, 2013

On Monday December 2, Glenmorangie unveiled a 20-tonne sculpture by sculptor Barry Grove at its production plant in Livingston, Scotland. The unveiling marked the passing of 20 million bottles through the facility since it opened in 2010.

Glenmorangie Sculpture

Glenmorangie made a £12.7 million pound investment in the state-of-the-art bottling plant in order to meet growing export demand for its different single malt whiskies. In the US alone, demand has increased by 63K cases and just over 100,000 cases were shipped in 2013.

Peter Nelson the operations director said: "We are proud of our heritage and also our export-driven success over the past few years. This is based on innovations such as the new production facility at Livingston's Alba Campus, which has now seen 20 million bottles pass along its bottling lines since opening just three years ago."

The massive sculpture outside the plant is called 'Reveal'. It is carved out of 300 million-year-old sandstone and took two years to complete because Grove only used traditional hand tools. It stands two metres high and is just over three metres long.

Grove's brief from The Glenmorangie Company was to create a sculpture that pays tribute to the region's Highland roots and explores the Picts' history and heritage.

Grove said: "I am passionate about creating pieces of public art that will last for generations. The sheer size and scale of this project has presented a real challenge, but I wanted to stay true to the spirit of the enterprise by using traditional stonemason's tools. The sculpture explores the theme of re-discovery and depicts blowing leaves revealing a symbol of Pictish design and intricate knot-work, the origin of which dates back to 800AD."

Printer friendly version