The Islay distillery and luxury automaker team up on the latest ultra-aged whisky, Arc-52.
The Islay distillery and luxury automaker Aston Martin have maintained a creative partnership over the last few years, releasing a series of limited-edition whiskies inspired by the British car company’s design aesthetic. And for their latest collaboration, the ultra-aged scotch gets a truly unique vessel. The shape of their whimsical new bottle is more alien spaceship than decanter, resting on two individual points with a flowing design that merges natural and man-made contours and shapes to make it appear almost weightless, according to the distillery.
Of course, the single malt inside this vessel has to be just as luxurious as the glass surrounding it. To that end, master blender Ron Welsh and his team selected whisky aged for 52 years in just two casks, a sherry butt and American oak ex-bourbon hogshead, which were married together in equal proportions. The resulting whisky was bottled at 42.3 percent ABV, and has notes of creamy vanilla and fruit on the nose, followed by citrus, tobacco and light peat on the palate.
“We set out to produce something which hasn’t been seen before, capturing our uncompromising design principles and also the magnificence of the whisky,” said Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief creative officer, in a press release. “Taking balance as the most important factor, as we do in designing Aston Martin cars, I believe that what we have created is truly a piece of sculpture”.
Bowmore Arc-52 is limited to just 100 decanters. It won’t arrive here in the US until the fall, but it can be found in key markets in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, China, Singapore, Canada and global travel outlets at a suggested retail price of $125,000. This stunning bottle will surely become a collector’s item, so consider picking up two: one to enjoy and one to keep as a showpiece.
