SWG3 and The Clydeside Distillery launch limited-edition whisky in collaboration with artist Jim Lambie

Today, something rather special emerged from Glasgow – a collaboration that perfectly captures why I love this industry so much. SWG3 and The Clydeside Distillery have teamed up with renowned visual artist Jim Lambie to create *Velvet Odyssey*, a limited-edition single malt celebrating SWG3’s 20th anniversary.

What makes this particularly compelling is the backstory. You’ve got Andrew Fleming-Brown from SWG3 and Andrew Morrison from Clydeside – childhood mates who are now literally neighbours along the Clyde. That kind of genuine connection always translates into something more meaningful than your typical commercial collaboration.

The whisky itself is properly crafted – hand-distilled using Loch Katrine water and 100% Scottish barley, matured in first-fill bourbon barrels before getting a five-month finish in a Pedro Ximénez sherry butt. At 48.5% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour, you’re looking at notes of tropical fruit, toffee, oak spice, and dark chocolate. Morrison describes it as having “real intensity, depth of colour and natural sweetness” – quite unlike anything else they’ve produced.

The packaging features revisited artwork from Lambie’s 2006 Comme des Garçons project, where he transformed a white Daimler limo with psychedelic vinyl tape in what was then SWG3’s transitional space. There’s something beautifully circular about that – Fleming-Brown even managed to retrieve a piece of the original car, which is now on display at Clydeside for the launch.

Lambie’s explanation of the name is spot on: “Velvet Odyssey suggests something smooth and elegant, but also a sense of movement – that each sip could take you somewhere.” That’s exactly the kind of thinking that elevates whisky beyond mere liquid.

At £85 from Clydeside’s shop and online, it’s a proper limited release that tells a genuine Glasgow story. When local institutions collaborate with this level of authenticity, you get something that transcends the usual marketing-driven releases we see too much of these days.