The 2026 Hedonism muse
Compass Box’s Creative Director of Whiskymaking, Angela D’Orazio with actress and muse Karen Gillan
The latest limited edition of Compass Box’s cult whisky Hedonism is already its fastest-selling UK release, featuring Scottish actor Karen Gillan as this year’s muse. The Guardians of the Galaxy and Jumanji star reflects on Highland roots, storytelling and the surreal experience of seeing herself on a whisky bottle
Compass Box occupies an unusual position in Scotch whisky. Founded in 2000, the London-based company does not operate its own distillery but instead sources exceptional casks from distilleries across Scotland and blends them with an approach that is closer to creative direction than traditional blending. The company prefers the term “whiskymaker”, arguing that its work involves imagining flavour combinations and stories first, before building a whisky around them.
Hedonism has always sat at the centre of that philosophy. When it launched at the turn of the millennium it made history as the world’s first blended grain Scotch whisky and just as notably became the first whisky to feature the image of a woman on its label. In 2023 Compass Box pushed the concept further by turning Hedonism into an annual limited release, inviting a different female artist each year to reinterpret the iconic Hedonism woman.
The 2026 release takes the idea into new territory with Gillan stepping into the role of muse, her image forming the centrepiece of a new artwork created by Australian body-painting artist Emma Hack. For Gillan, who grew up in Inverness before becoming one of Scotland’s most successful Hollywood exports, the experience has a personal resonance that goes far beyond appearing on a bottle.
“To be considered a muse for this whisky and to be a part of its story is deeply personal to me,” she says. “Sharing whisky and stories are some of the best times of my life. There’s no wilder sensation than seeing yourself on a whisky bottle.”
Behind the artwork sits one of the most ambitious expressions of Hedonism to date. Compass Box’s Creative Director of Whiskymaking, Angela D’Orazio, has assembled a blend that includes some of the oldest components ever used in the series. Among them is a 30-year-old grain whisky from Strathclyde Distillery, supported by parcels aged between 20 and 24 years from Cameronbridge Distillery and the now-closed Port Dundas Distillery, alongside historic blended grain stocks.
Australian body-painting artist Emma Hack works on Gillan
For the first time in Hedonism’s history, the blend also incorporates an old sherry cask component, adding notes of cherry and raisin to the whisky’s traditional creamy sweetness. The result is richer and darker than previous releases. The nose offers clove-spiced fruitcake, dates and toffee, while the palate unfolds with coffee and cocoa-infused cream before softening into a lingering finish of nougat, polished wood sugars and toasted hazelnut.
Only 13,126 bottles have been produced worldwide and early sales suggest the combination of rare grain stocks, striking artwork and Gillan’s involvement has struck a chord.
Yet for Gillan, whisky is far less about collectability than it is about memory and place.
“Growing up in the Highlands was completely idyllic in every way,” she says. “I look back and all of my memories look like they took place on a postcard. It was a wonderful upbringing. I’m a proper working class girl from Inverness. I have an amazing family and group of friends. It is so safe there I could run around with my friends completely unsupervised and roam free around all of these beautiful places. Only now as I’ve travelled a bit more do I appreciate and understand how rare that is.”
Born in Inverness, often described as the gateway to the Highlands, Gillan has gone on to build a career spanning blockbuster cinema and independent filmmaking. Her roles as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy and the wider Marvel franchise including Avengers: Endgame established her as a global star, while the action-comedy franchise Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle introduced audiences to her scene-stealing character Ruby Roundhouse.
She is currently filming the next instalment in the Jumanji series.
“I am loving it and having the absolute time of my life,” she says. “This one is going to be the best one yet. It’s so funny and it is one of the movies wherever you point the camera someone is doing something hilarious. We’re body-swapping and playing different characters. I can’t wait for you all to see what Ruby Roundhouse is doing this time as it is so unexpected.”
The 2026 Hedonism release
Despite the scale of those productions, she remains deeply connected to home.
“Not as often as I’d like,” she says when asked how frequently she returns to Inverness. “All of my friends and family are still there but I try to get back twice a year if not more. I’m about to come back to the Highlands to shoot Highlander so my dreams are about to come true, which is I get to be in the Highlands and I get to do my job as well.”
Whisky, she says, has always been woven into that sense of place.
“Whisky is such a huge part of the culture of where I’m from. The best way to have whisky is with friends and family, to share stories, to share whisky, sharing with people that you love and share some damn good stories.”
Her own preference is uncomplicated. “I like it with some ice, and when the ice melts a little bit so that it is a tiny bit diluted. It brings out the flavours.”
Cocktails have their place, though she suggests Hedonism is best appreciated on its own.
“Absolutely, ginger beer, soda water, all works. Hedonism though, perhaps this is one to enjoy solo. It stands up on its own.”
If there is an ideal setting, it is not a luxury bar but something far more personal.
“I’m back on the old abandoned road in the sunshine with my best mate Donna and we’re saying cringe things but she’s there to laugh with me.”
The humour in that image reflects something she believes is fundamental to Scottish identity. “I love Scotland, it is my identity and Scotland has been so good for me. It is a brilliant nationality to be. The sense of humour even in the darkest moments. Humour in the face of adversity is a characteristic of the Scots and they are just lovely people.”
Her mother, originally from Glasgow’s Easterhouse, remains one of her strongest influences.
“My mother is completely my inspiration, one of eight, lived in a one bedroom apartment, and then moved to Inverness, still all crammed into one house. Each and every one of the siblings are entrepreneurial and has gone out into the world and seized every moment. It was so inspirational to have grown up around that family of predominantly women who are all out there and getting after it.”
That spirit of female creativity and independence aligns naturally with the Hedonism project.
“We had always talked about getting involved in the whisky space in some way,” Gillan says of herself and her friend Donna. “We started to look around at different whiskies and discovered Compass Box had the most beautiful designs of women on their bottles. Hedonism was the first whisky to use a woman on the label and I thought that was really interesting.”
When Compass Box invited her to become the new muse, she was taken aback.
“It was so exciting and I can’t believe our mad little plan resulted in this. Now I’m on the bottle too. I’m the new Hedonism muse. It is a dream come true.”
The artwork itself required Gillan to become a human canvas for artist Emma Hack, whose intricate body-painting technique blends the human form into elaborate patterns.
“It was so cool to sit for Emma,” Gillan says. “When I realised she was going to create the art on me it was such a privilege. She is an incredible artist and she knows exactly what her vision is. I love working with people like that. I love it when I’m working with directors who have such a clear vision and I know that I can be in service in some way as I believe in that vision.”
For Gillan the process was as rewarding as the final result.
“I got to watch and observe and see creative forces at play. She was firing on all cylinders. When I saw her final work in the mirror it was amazing, but the most exciting thing for me, as with a lot of things, is being part of the process.”
There are parallels, she believes, between whisky and filmmaking.
“We’re all storytellers and giving people an experience is a huge part of that. Every choice that is in the design and in the whisky is fully telling a story and in my role that is what I do too.”
More recently, the word hedonism has taken on a new meaning for her personally.
“One of the biggest things that has happened in my life recently is becoming a mother for the first time,” she says. “When I first tried Hedonism I had this moment where I thought to myself this is a moment just for me, and those moments are so rare as a new mother.
“Suddenly everything has become a little bit secondary to this other life that you have. I love that, I really do, but it is also really important to remember that you are an individual and you deserve moments of indulgence and a little hedonism. It is really good for the soul.
“Sharing whisky and stories are some of the best times of my life,” she says. “There’s no wilder sensation than seeing yourself on a whisky bottle.”
