A piper has been serenading casks of whisky in a musical bid to enhance the flavour of the drink.
Ali Levack, frontman of Scottish 鈥渘eo-trad鈥 band Project Smok, has joined forces with whisky brand Wee Smoky to release a single in harmony with a new bottle.
The partnership began when Project Smok auctioned naming rights to their new single in a creative way to tackle loss of income due to cancellation of live gigs during the pandemic.
Wee Smoky won the auction, and will celebrate the release of the song 鈥淲ee Smoky鈥 with its own release of 550 special edition bottles, with 拢1 from each bottle going to the band.
Levack, who was BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of 2020, played the whistle to the casks to enhance the flavour, a process known as 鈥渟onic-aging.鈥
The musician, from Dingwall, said: 鈥淧laying to whisky casks was a new experience. I loved being part of the whole process, from playing our music to the whisky while it aged to drinking it while listening to our recorded song.
鈥淭he song and the whisky go very well together. When everything froze in March last year, we didn鈥檛 think we鈥檇 be in the same position more than 12 months later.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had to think outside the box as to how we can generate income until we can start playing live music again.
鈥淎uctioning off naming rights to a song was an idea we didn鈥檛 think would work, but it has ended up with us having our own whisky named after us, which is a dream come true.鈥
A QR code on the bottles will take drinkers directly to 鈥淲ee Smoky鈥 on Spotify.
Wee Smoky鈥檚 founder, Edinburgh-based Rory Gammell, said: 鈥淢usic is part of everything we do. Our whisky is best enjoyed with music so it was natural to experiment to see how music could enhance the flavour.
鈥淢y dream was for Project Smok to headline our launch party. Unfortunately, those plans were put on hold. Nobody embodies the spirit of our brand quite like them.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e non-conformist and I couldn鈥檛 think of a better example of Scottish flair 鈥 they鈥檙e a remarkable band with a unique sound.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e making people think differently about trad music, and we鈥檙e making people think differently about whisky. It鈥檚 the perfect match.鈥
The concept of 鈥渟onic-aging鈥 stems from the 18th and 19th centuries, when vibrations in oak casks in transit across the seas were considered essential to the ageing process of liquors including whisky.
It is thought that by playing music to casks, such vibrations can be recreated, enhancing the flavour of batches by accelerating the way liquor reacts with the wood.
