Visually Yours, Lady Octomore.

The difference between 'imagination' and 'visualization' is subtle but fairly simple. You're able to imagine from past experience. Visualization is an act of creation. Visualizing something brings an amorphous thought forth into existence - it gives it arms and legs, skin and bones... Much like a halogen projection that eventually takes roots in real-time existence. From a mere 'suggestion' - it transforms into the reality of 'personal experience'.

Before you wonder where I am going with this - well, not very far. There is usually a surprisingly quick & easy wormhole to be found between the planet of Spiritual to the land of Spirits (of the beverage kind...ahem!). The latter often prove that thoughts are chemical - 'coz if they weren't then mind-benders won't work! If the land of Spirits had a social stratification a la The Caste..err The Cask System, the top of the chain would be the glorious Single Malts - seeped in wisdom, aged to surreal perfection and twice-born between Distilleries, Bottlers, Decanters and the final Tasters! 

I must upfront admit my bias towards the Smoky & Peaty ones. The latest I savored was the Octomore 06.3 Islay Barley 2009, 258 PPM - arguably, the peatiest beast in the world! Tasting it at the Whiskey Library along with the Store Manager - who is from Scotland - our conversation meandered from the banal openers of, 'So which is your favorite?' to a 'passionate explanation of the Map of Scotland' that usually ensues... to Peaty this, Smoky that --- and finally, settled upon "Visualization". Yes, Visualization.

Before we attempt visuals, let's first examine what do Whiskey Tasting Notes comprise of: Character, Color, Nose, Palate, Finish and Mood. There are several diagnostics, descriptions and explanations. Even beautiful prize-winning sculptures that attempt to capture the 'shape' of the 'sound' that a whiskey makes when poured neat into a glass! Words or Shapes or Sound - these are attempts at Visualization. And, of course Color and Texture - one of the most powerful and evocative ways to describe the 'unseen' (as the 'aura' of a Spirit - both of the beverage and the other kind is often called...ouch!)

The conversation at The Whiskey Library led to an inspiration and a provocation - Inspiration  that often expresses itself as this inexplicable itch that I develop in my hands if I haven't touched a pastel for a few days! and, Provocation - because the Octomore left me stranded. Totally marooned on an Island with very salty breeze coming in from the raging Atlantic, with smoke & pepper rising from the very heart of every sip that I took. (Maybe, I'll leave you lingering here - a moment away from finishing reading this post to search for 'what/how' the Octomore tastes like is perfectly acceptable) 

At Studio Pandora, I play with Colors - and explore how do concepts, words, fonts, forms, sounds, smells, tastes & flavors - all somehow come 'alive' with a few strokes 'n splashes of color. How the combination of colors evokes a memory and how the use of a solid stroke creates another. One fine weekend - with the tall statuesque "Octomore 06.3 2009" sitting besides me - I began drawing this very wild woman's portrait. She's composed of warmth of honey & the autumn sunshine, yet she bellows smoke, peat and peppery-charcoal. She nestles her heart in myrtle, mint, sweet-meadow and even the mauve blush of heather flowers... Yet she leaves a heavy salt lingering on the rugged, rocky shores of one's palette. Her hair is wild, tossed in the wind - yet shine down like the rays of the golden sun might on a field full of grown Islay Barley! Her tongue of Russian Toffee and Red Grapes -- sweet but never smooth. She hits you like nothing else will - She is Octomore.

Studio Pandora's visualization of Lady "Octomore 06.3" / 258 PPM (Islay Barley 2009) rests with Sarah Thallon from The Whiskey Library. (In the snapshot accompanying this post).