The Angels' Share® Tartan - The Story in the Weave
The Angels’ Share...
Designed to honour Scotch Whisky—Scotland's world-famous national drink.
Created not only to reflect the rich chroma and amber tones of the spirit, this tartan is woven to capture the essence of ‘the Angels’ Share’—the 2% of distilled alcohol (said to be taken by the Angels) that evaporates through the oak barrel during whisky maturation, leaving its mark both in legend and in the fabric itself.
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This design was shaped by two distinct visions (and, truthfully, guided by a few wee drams along the way!):
The first vision came from VISIBLE LIGHT...
The colour of whisky in the bottle, the way it dances in the glass. Refracted light shimmered in the imagination, casting hues of amber, gold, and bronze. This created the first visual pivot: an intricate arrangement that suggests a stained-glass window—rich with meaning, glowing with spirit.
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The second vision was more symbolic: an ethereal glow—the “light of the Angels.”
It emerged as soft forms within the sett, suggesting angel wings woven into the geometry. There’s something poetic about the idea of the Angels being present in the cloth itself—taking their share with reverence, their presence visible in the very threads.
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At its core, the tartan is a tribute to the entire whisky-making process. The colours, the geometry, the thread count—they come together with story and spirit, blending to tell a tale that honours the heritage, the mystery, and the alchemy of Scotch Whisky.
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THE COLOURS -
Seven colours run through this tartan, and each one carries weight. The number seven has long held spiritual meaning—linked to completeness, harmony, and perfection.
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Blue
An icy blue at the FIRST PIVOT, symbolising the pure Scottish water.
The foundation of every dram, and one of the three core ingredients in Scotch.
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Indigo
A deep, smouldering hue that calls to mind the coal once used to fire copper stills.
It nods to tradition, to flame, to the elemental heat that fuels distillation.
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Brown
Rich and aged, this colour symbolises the oak cask.
It also subtly suggests copper—the shining metal of the stills. Brown forms a core structure in the tartan, evoking maturation and containment.
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Shades...
BETWEEN BLUE, INDIGO, AND BROWN.
Together, they evoke the smoke, the malted barley, and the earthy tones of peat.
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Amber
At the SECOND PIVOT, forty threads of glowing amber represent the whisky itself.
Bottled at 40% ABV (alcohol by volume)—the legal minimum strength for Scotch.
This amber field is not positioned adjacent to the brown of the cask. Instead, it’s bordered first by a radiant yellow stripe for barley, then the whispered, yet ethereal, white stripe symbolising the angels. This sequence visually traces the journey from grain to spirit, with the sparkling white marking the presence of the angels within the weave.
Together, 40 amber and 60 threads in the geometry form the totality of 100-threads, symbolising the full volume of the dram.
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Ochre
A narrow ochre stripe stands for yeast, a key ingredient in fermentation.
More importantly, two more subtle ochre lines, alternating with brown, are woven across the brown field.
These twin lines represent the 2% of spirit lost each year to evaporation—the Angels’ Share—making this invisible process visible in the tartan. The effect is a subtle tribute to what is lost to the heavens as the whisky matures in oak.
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Yellow
The golden yellow stripe signifies ripened barley (the harvest of the land).
Also the grain that begins the whisky’s journey. Placed alongside the amber, ochre, and brown, it completes the warm, earthy spectrum that defines both the drink and the tartan.
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White
Lastly, the Angels.
White threads represent the Angels themselves, bringing radiant clarity to the tartan.
This luminous stripe is not merely decorative: it is the angels’ presence made visible, a glimmer woven into the fabric’s heart. Just as the Angels’ Share is both a loss and a gift—a portion of spirit rising unseen from the cask—so this white evokes the ethereal, the otherworldly, and the quietly miraculous.
It echoes the fleeting sparkle in a whisky glass and the sense of something sacred lifted to the heavens. In the weave, the angels are not just remembered; they are revealed, their share forever part of the story.
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Known traditionally as Uisge Beatha in Gaelic, and tracing its roots to the Latin Aqua Vitae—the “Water of Life”—Scotch whisky carries forward a rich heritage. More than just a drink, it embodies story, spirit, and soul, a timeless elixir that continues to inspire and connect generations.
Slàinte Mhath!
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Looking for the Angels' Share Kilt?
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