Dingwall piper Ali Levack's music is taken to cask in a bid to enhance whisky flavour
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Award-winning Highland piper, Ali Levack, has been employing some musical magic for whisky maker Wee Smoky to see if some tunes can help enhance its flavour.
Ali Levack, frontman of Scottish trad band Project Smok and winner of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2020, has joined forces with the up and coming whisky brand to release a single and single malt in perfect harmony.
Ali was invited to played to Wee Smoky's casks to enhance the flavour pre-bottling, a process known as "sonic-aging".
The practice dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries when when vibrations in oak casks while being shipped across the sea were considered essential to the ageing process of whisky and other liquors. It is thought that by playing music to casks, these vibrations can be recreated, enhancing the flavour of batches by accelerating the way liquor reacts with the wood.
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 Wee Smoky with its own release of 550 special edition bottles, with £1 from each bottle going to the neo-trad trio.
Ali said: “Playing 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. The song and the whisky go very well together! “When everything froze in March last year, we didn’t think we’d be in the same position more than 12 months later.
“We’ve had to think outside the box as to how we can generate income until we can start playing live music again. Auctioning off naming rights to a song was an idea we didn’t think would work, but it has ended up with us having our own whisky named after us, which is a dream come true.”
On the bottles will be a QR code which will take drinkers directly to Wee Smoky on Spotify.
All 400 limited-edition bottles from the first cask – principally aimed at non-whisky drinkers – were snapped up within days of becoming available in December last year. Bottles from batch two are currently available to order on the Wee Smoky website.
This is the latest development in Wee Smoky’s ambition to champion “Scottish Flair”.
Wee Smoky’s founder, Edinburgh-based Rory Gammell, said: “Music 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.
“My 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. They’re non-conformist and I couldn’t think of a better example of Scottish flair – they’re a remarkable band with a unique sound.
“They’re making people think differently about trad music, and we’re making people think differently about whisky. It’s the perfect match. We’re both looking to modernise Scotland’s image, to make it more relevant to a younger generation.
“We’re proud to work together with Scotland’s incredible music community. This collaboration is only the beginning.”
Following this limited edition run, Wee Smoky’s next batch of whisky that is inclusive and welcoming to younger people and perfect in cocktails is already shaping up to be a sell-out, with people snapping up pre-orders on the company’s website, and significant interest from international importers.
This is the start of significant growth plans for the business which plans to make more than 20,000 bottles early next year.
A significant portion of the 5000 bottles which will be produced as part of the next run of Wee Smoky’s signature peated single grain in August have already been reserved by international importers. Pre-orders are available on Wee Smoky’s website.
