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The Macallan distillery opens up for 4D virtual reality tours
Not everyone has the means to travel to Scotland and visit their favorite distillery a la Ron Swanson. To help connoisseurs live out their dreams of traipsing through its facilities, The Macallan has created the Macallan Distillery Experience. VRFocus describes it as a "4D multi-sensory" group tour that guides folks through the company's process for making its Single Malt spirit. Along the way you'll explore the Scottish distillery an the estate it resides on, learning about the outfit's history along the way. Visitors will step into a "15x15x15 cube-like projection structure" with 360-degree videos beamed to the installation's walls.
'Artificial tongue' can tell fine whiskey from hooch
Are you absolutely sure you can tell the difference between a top-tier whiskey that comes in a handcrafted wooden box and the cheapest one from a grocery's liquor aisle? Uwe Bunz's synthetic tongue can, and it leaves no room for doubt. It can differentiate between every bottle of whiskey based on their brand, age, blend and even country of origin. The researcher from Heidelberg University, Germany says it can't ID an unknown blend from scratch, but it can tell whether the sample you have is the same as a known one. "If you buy a crate of expensive whiskies," he said, "you can test if they are actually what you think they are."
Space whisky really does taste different
When Scottish distiller Ardbeg launched whisky into space to see whether or not the drink ages differently in microgravity, it came across as little more than a publicity stunt... which, admittedly, it still is. However, the company has finally published its results, and it's clear that this liquor was changed by its stay in the International Space Station. Going into orbit altered the ratios of acids and other chemicals, which had a pronounced effect on the taste. While the Earth-based whisky is dry, with notes of "woody" flavors" and "sweet smoke," the space whisky recalls "smoked fruits" and carries an aftertaste that reminds Ardbeg of "antiseptic lozenges" and "rubbery smoke." You won't be breaking this out to celebrate a special occasion, then, unless you like recalling the smell of burning tires.
Ballantine designs 'space glass' for drinking whiskey in microgravity
Anyone offended by the prospect of drinking fine whiskey inside sealed space packs with straws after Suntory sent its finest variety to the ISS for testing? Don't worry: Ballantine's got your back. The liquor company has commissioned Open Space Agency's James Parr -- who also created a Lumia-powered 3D-printed telescope in the past -- to design a high-tech whiskey glass especially for zero-G environments. He tested a number of designs before settling on a rounded glass with a spiral convex stainless steel base plated in rose gold that can create the surface tension necessary to hold the liquor down. The liquid then passes through channels on the sides of the glass all the way up to the golden mouthpiece.
Spaceborne whisky returns to Earth
Interested in finding out what whisky matured in space tastes like? You may get a chance sooner than you think. Scottish distillery Ardbeg teamed up with the scientists at NanoRacks to put vials of whisky aboard the International Space Station three years ago, and those vials recently returned to Earth. The two companies are now analyzing molecules from the otherworldly beverage to see if they interact with oak any differently than otherwise identical samples that stayed on the ground. You'll find out the effects of microgravity on your stiff drinks when the research finishes up in 2015. Space may not have any significant impact on the flavor, let alone a good one, but it's easy to imagine distilleries eventually boasting of how long their whisky has remained free from the planet's clutches.
Linn launches £25,000 turntable made out of whisky casks
Aside from enjoying a wee dram while listening to The White Album, we didn't think there was a better way to combine our love of whisky and high-end audio gear. Linn, on the other hand, decided to celebrate its 40th birthday by teaming up with fellow highland brand Highland Park to produce something really special. The pair are recreating Linn's flagship Sondek LP12 turntable, but on a wooden plinth crafted from some of the distiller's solid oak scotch whisky casks. Naturally, only 40 of the units will be produced, each one setting you back £25,000 ($40,000) -- but hey, at least you get a 40-year-old bottle of Highland Park (worth £900) thrown in for good measure.
TshirtOS is web-connected, programmable, 100 percent cotton (video)
An LED display, camera, microphone, speaker and accelerometer all packaged into a t-shirt and controlled via your smartphone? That's the concept behind tshirtOS, a wearable platform for "self-expression" that currently only exists as a prototype. It can show off tweets, play music videos, capture belly-height photos and send them off to Instagram, and pretty much do anything except play percussion. CuteCircuit, which came up with the idea in cahoots (inexplicably) with Ballantine's whisky, says it's about to conduct product tests and will mass produce the smart-shirts if enough folks register interest. There's no Kickstarter page, definite specs or pricing for any of this, but based on CuteCircuit's history and the video after the break we're inclined to believe TshirtOS is more than just viral marketing stunt for the sake of a dram -- click onwards and judge for yourself.
Pioneer's PureMalt S-A4SPT-VP speakers: whiskey makes 'em better
You loved those JVC sake-soaked speakers right? Only, the smell of that warm fermented rice elixir is a painful mnemonic of some woeful, Golden-Gai excess you'd sooner forget. Yeah, us too. Then check the latest rev of the "PureMalt" speaker line-up from Pioneer made from the 100 year old oak used to barrel-age whiskey (or is that whisky?) before retiring in your bookshelf HiFi. As to the specs, well, if this is the kind of marketing ploy that appeals to you, then do you really care about the inclusion of Pioneer's Technical Audio Devices (TAD) technology usually found in their professional speakers? Didn't think so. The S-A4SPT-VP goes on sale in August for ¥48,000 or about a $421 equiv for the pair.[Via Impress]
