This Scotch Comes with Virtual Reality
Photo via Baptiste and Bottle
Enjoying a fine cocktail is a sensory experience. Sight, taste, smell, even touch and sound all play a part in one’s appreciation of a well-made cocktail. But what if I told you one bar has found a way to take that experience to the next level with virtual reality?
At Baptiste & Bottle in The Conrad Hotel Chicago, guests can now enjoy a cocktail that combines an in-person sensory experience with virtual reality. Called Rare Journey, the scotch-based cocktail experience is the result of a collaboration with storied scotch house The Macallan.
Rare Journey is a showcase for The Macallan’s Rare Cask Whisky. which is aged for at least 12 years in a combination of Spanish and American seasoned oak casks. The result is a rich and woody but approachable whisky with notes of vanilla, citrus, and spicy hints of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
The cocktail itself combines the Rare Cask, Bodegas Tradicion 30-year Oloroso sherry, and virtual reality, which is listed as the third ingredient. For $95, guests will receive a guided table-side experience as they not only enjoy the cocktail, but also immerse themselves in The Macallan story as they embark on a global journey via a virtual reality headset. At the table, the guest’s olfactory senses are stimulated with smells meant to complement their journey.
Starting with an oak tree in a forest, guests will follow it all the way to The Macallan Cooperage in Spain where the wood becomes casks, which are then seasoned with sherry, filled with scotch and left to mature at The Macallan’s Speyside distillery.
The Rare Journey experience is the brainchild of Raquel Raies, national brand ambassador for The Macallan.