ANATOMICAL WHISKY TASTING - Ace Hotel Shoreditch, Valentines Day, 2015
For Valentine's Day 2015, Bompas & Parr created the world’s most adult body-shots. Five brave volunteer performers lined-up, stripped off, and had fine, aged whisky licked, sipped and sucked from the natural contours of their bodies by nearly 50 strangers.
Elevating the body shot from the auspices of frat parties to become a piece of performance art, our ‘anatomical’ whisky tasting matched the ages of whiskies to that of the five performers. Furthermore, as a prelude to each ‘slurp’, each performer told the compelling story of their life to emphasise the full magnitude of the years the spirit has lain in cask, slowly gaining in complexity and maturity just as the performers have grown in themselves, and allowing guests to reflect on the journey each has taken.
The project was a collaboration between Bompas & Parr, Ace Hotel and The Gourmand, with whiskies sourced with help from The Whisky Exchange, and hosted by the Ace Hotel London Shoreditch. It involved performers ranging from age 25 to 39 paired with rare single malt and grain whiskies.
It also highlighted the gustatory and intellectual benefits to sampling alcohol from the human body as the ultimate drinking receptacle: the heat of the body raised the temperature of the whisky, helping to showcase the flavours as guests form a uniquely intimate bond with the performers.
Photography by Nathan Pask, Richard Holden and Ann Charlott Ommedal.