Compass Box 'Ultramarine' Blended Scotch Whisky

The vision for Ultramarine, as presented to our design agency, Stranger & Stranger, was the bluest label possible. Their extensive research revealed some fascinating routes to explore. One referenced the use of ultramarine as a sacred colour in art. Ultramarine was an incredibly expensive pigment to achieve, requiring the lapis lazuli stone. Only found in certain areas of what is now Afghanistan, lapis lazuli was a luxury of the ancient world and, in the case of paint pigment, was reserved for art with holy subject matter. The rarefied nature of ultramarine survives to this day and continues to convey a luxurious character to anything associated with it. Our label features Salacia, the Roman goddess of the deep ocean. She is the anchor for a giant ultramarine cloth, like you’d see in paintings of the Madonna. The label seeks to draw link.