Hasta La Ideas

Designed as a special collaboration between NYC’s influential menswear maker Freemans Sporting Club and Dewar’s whisky, the limited-edition Travel Roll is what the brand is calling a “modern take on the vintage utility roll used by Tommy Dewar to carry his father’s whisky around the world.” Made in NYC,…

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A 16 year single malt scotch whisky strong enough to take down a Norse god

Taking inspiration in the distinctly Nordic heritage and unforgiving climate of the Orkney Islands where the celebrated Highland Park distillery stands, the recently launched Thor single malt scotch whisky is as powerful as the Norse god for which it’s named. As the first release from the much anticipated Valhalla Collection, the 16 year single malt is characterized by a “forceful” nose dominated by “an explosion of aromatic smoke”. Once past these initial notes of gingerbread, cinnamon and vanilla, the dry flavors give way to a sweet body that settles nicely on the palette, making Thor one of the more memorable spirits we’ve sipped recently.

Bottled at 52.1% abv—nearly 9% stronger than the highly sought-after Highland Park 18—the concentrated Thor is unabashedly flavorful when enjoyed neat and responds well to a splash of water, mellowing the peaty bite to a more mortal level. While some purists may scoff at the idea, Thor has the integrity to withstand a bit of dilution while remaining strong enough to put a bit of hair on your chest.

The truly elemental spirit is an absolutely delicious departure for Highland Park, and with only 1,500 bottles being released Stateside—23,000 worldwide—it’s sure to create quite a stir. Visit Highland Park online to purchase directly for $200 a bottle.

Scotch whisky manually mixed for smooth flavor from a blend of three malts

As one of the few remaining whisky distilleries in the world still using manual mixing techniques during the production process, Monkey Shoulder makes a rich and uniquely flavorful blend. This hands-on turning of the barley was once known to cause a temporary ailment for which this whisky is named. Monkey Shoulder has adopted the same time-tested techniques under better working conditions—and without the risk of injury—to create their signature triple malt Scotch whisky. The spirit has been available in its native U.K. for some time, but just recently launched in the U.S. in January 2012.

The first distillery to blend three malts, Monkey Shoulder is made from a trio of fine Speyside single malts—Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Kininvie. Once selected, the malts are left to mature in bourbon casks for a length of time only the “malt master” knows. This process lends the whisky subtle, but distinct smokey notes of oak that compliment the spirit’s naturally sweet vanilla and brown sugar flavors. Each batch contains just 27 individually taste-tested casks to keep quality consistently up to grade.

Monkey Shoulder is now available in the U.S. from select Chicago stores and online nationwide at the brand’sBinny’s for $30 per 750ml bottle. For more information on the production process and for heaps of inventive cocktail recipes head to e-shop.

The master perfumer creates an olfactory experience as a unique educational tool for understanding the flavors of Scotch whisky

Whisky is a complex spirit with a range of flavors; often, people have an experience with one variety and dismiss the whole spirit. The Macallan recognizes that introducing whisky to some people requires a bit of eduction, and happened upon an idea that is really quite clever. Knowing that smell is such an important element in taste, they thought it would be an interesting experiment to teach people about the flavors of whisky. The Macallan’s partnership with celebrated British perfumer Roja Dove created an olfactory experience to do just that, and the result is a Scottish take on the Japanese Kōdō ceremony, which celebrates the art and customs of incense.

Roja is a master perfumer who creates his own line of perfumes as well as creating bespoke fragrances for people and places (like shops and hotels). He also has a well known shop, Roja Dove Haute Perfumerie at Harrods in London, which sells a range of “Roja approved” scents. Ironically, Roja had an unpleasant teenage encounter with Scotch that prevented him from ever trying it again. In his first meeting with The Macallan, he had to confess to his whisky-making partners, “I absolutely hate whisky. I don’t like it, I can’t drink it. I don’t like it whatsoever.” Since the project was about creating an experience to introduce the unexperienced to whisky, they were actually encouraged by Dove’s opposition to the spirit, relying on him to create an experience to make the characteristics of whisky more approachable.

The Macallan and Roja Dove Sensory Experience takes people through the spectrum of scent, educating the nose in common whisky notes. It’s meant to help people approach the whisky palate without the immediate—and often overpowering—alcoholic sensation so that later on, tasting the whiskey may bring out characteristics that may otherwise have been missed. “Everybody so far has said that they are shocked that they are able to smell things in the whisky that they have never, ever noticed before,” explains Dove. I was lucky enough to spend an hour going through the Experience with Dove and David Cox, director of The Macallan’s Fine and Rare whiskies and indeed learned to distinguish the various components that give whisky its flavor.

Dove selected 12 pure essences that he felt were representative of different whiskey traits. The first six introduce scent pairs that help distinguish between things like stillness versus volatility, fruitiness versus spiciness, and maturity versus immaturity. Dove’s experience goes back and forth between scents in an opposite way from traditional whisky-tasting, bringing out base notes after the high notes and the sweet before the dry. The kit provides a certain education that a tasting alone cannot. The second set of six scents creates two aromatic blends that imitate whiskies from The Macallan range, which are later used in combination with the whisky during tasting. By the end, the nose has been properly trained and participants leave equipped with the vocabulary to go forward and taste whiskey on their own. It’s perhaps not a surprise that through his own methods Dove has come to appreciate and enjoy whisky.

The “aroma station” comes in an exquisitely detailed oak box constructed by Scottish cabinet-maker Duke Christie with bottles arranged like a perfumer’s desk—a set-up that Dove playfully likens to a church organ. The box contains scent strips for testing and glasses to combine the scents into a “bouquet,” which mirrors the whiskey-tasting experience. Armed with this educational tool, The Macallan’s brand ambassadors are set to spread the essence of their spirit through scent, hoping to convert non-believers to the fascinating world of scotch whisky and provide connoisseurs with an additional tool for appreciation. While the Ambassadors’ are currently making the rounds with the press, they promise that small, intimate consumer events will follow. Until then, check out the video to hear Dove himself explain the unique process.

Our interview with The Macallan’s latest Master of Photography

Back in September when we visited The Macallan at their home in the Scottish Highlands we were given a sneak preview of both the liquid and the imagery from the latest in their Masters of Photography series. While the 20-year-old whisky instantly became our new favorite for the way its buttery smooth texture offsets its rich and complex flavor, the imagery Albert Watson created to celebrate it offers a beautiful and educational perspective on what makes Scotch whisky so special. Where Rankin (the last Scottish photographer to create a series for The Macallan) used the Easter Elchies estate as a background for nude portraiture, Watson chose to tell the story of the complex journey Oak wood makes from the forest to the Estate, picking up the varied characteristics through Spain and Scotland that eventually define the whisky.

In anticipation of Thursday’s NYC stop of the one-night-only series of gallery exhibitions of Watson’s series, I sat down with the famed photographer to hear more about the project from his perspective.

You’re very highly regarded as a fashion photographer, I’m wondering if you consider yourself one.

I certainly have been a fashion photographer and I still do fashion. But I’ve also done a vast amount of portraiture and movie posters. I’ve done over the years a lot of landscape work and also a huge amount of still life work. So I’ve done more fashion than anything else, but in the end I’m really a photographer who will take fashion photographs. I’m really a photographer in the broad sense of the word.

There’s a very simple way to look at all of the work that I do because I was trained as a graphic designer for four years at university and then did three years of post-graduate at film school. And that is written all over the work. It’s either one of three things: graphic design, filmmaking or a mixture of the two.

Which photograph was chosen for the label of this edition?

It is the one of the barrel in the shaft of light, which was the first one we did. Due to the logistics, we shot the cooperage first and I went in to the saw mill and there was a big room. The place was very dusty and smokey and humid so this was the perfect condition for a shaft of light to come through. I walked into the room and there was this shaft of light. I turned to Ken Grier, the Creative Director, and said there’s a shot there, so we put a barrel in it. It was an important moment because it laid a standard for the rest of the shoot—a lot of times when working on a photographic project you want to get the best shots first because if you start low and improve you end up wanting to reshoot the early shots.

Where did the idea for the storyline come from?

That came from me. What came from them was that they wanted to do Spain and Scotland. But to tie it all together we had to put a human face on it and to do it as a journey that a young couple takes from a sustainable forest in the North of Spain to the barrels being made in the South of Spain and filled with Sherry there. Then they go from there to Scotland to the distillery where the whisky is put in them. I thought people should discover a forest, a saw mill, the cooperage, the barrels, and through that discover Scotland and ultimately the distillery. Doing that through this couple put a face on it.

The series of photographs you created for The Macallan combine the various facets of photography you described to create a very specific narrative. Was this project different from others you’ve done for that reason?

Once inside the project there wasn’t anything I might do over a six month period for a variety of people—I might be employed to do both landscape work and fashion work. So the Macallan thing was just concentrating it in to a very short period of time. The actual shooting time for the project was eight days, which is not a lot of time when you’re doing South of Spain, North of Spain, Central Scotland and West Coast of Scotland.

What do you think of the whisky?

I don’t drink at all. It’s unusual for someone from Scotland not to drink.

The limited-edition of 1,000 bottles of The Macallan Sherry Oak 20 years old has the specially-commissioned label by Watson and each bottle includes a set of 10 portfolio prints, $1000 from select retailers.