The Feast

The Whisky Tornado

Bompas & Parr
2013

The Whisky Tornado is a whisky based weather system for your experienced palate. The artwork spatialises whisky creating a mesmerising alcoholic twister that people can taste at the Leeds Gallery from 30^th March 2013.

Bompas & Parr's Whisky Tornado uses powerful humidifiers in conjunction with negative air pressure to create a spinning column of whisky vapour you can taste. The high humidity level itself enhances taste perception as meteorology and mixology collide. Care should be taken however. Inhaling the Whisky Tornado will intoxicate as the alcohol is absorbed through the lungs and straight into the blood bypassing your liver.

The tornado motif serves as a visual metaphor for the impact the Scottish weather has on flavour formation in whisky. Sunlight, temperature, rainfall and humidity all contribute to the distinctive aromatics found in the spirit.

Whisky Tornado has been developed by Bompas & Parr, working with the scientists and technicians at King’s College London:

Dr Mark Freeman, Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow comments:
"Whisky is shaped by the landscape in which it is distilled and matured, and part of Scotland's distinctiveness in this respect is its weather. The weather affects the type of barley that can be grown, the amount and quality of water for making whisky, and the environment in which whisky barrels spend their many years of maturation. Some highland whiskies are made largely from snow-melt water, and some say that this has a pronounced effect. Sometimes the water can be in danger of drying up, and some distilleries have even employed water diviners to help them to find new sources of pure water for making their whisky. Some whisky writers argue that whiskies in the casks take flavour from the atmosphere around them, and it is easy to believe this when watching the windswept seas battering the coastlines of the islands on which many single malts are distilled and matured. Battling the elements is part of the romance of the whisky-making story… "

£20000.00