Perfectly Unreasonable Heights

Maker’s Mark believes that going to unreasonable lengths is what separates good from remarkable. After all, they painstakingly hand-rotate every barrel and hand-dip each bottle in red wax.

To bring its global campaign “Perfectly Unreasonable” to life, we developed the highest whiskey bar in the United States. Perched 11,212 feet above sea level at the summit of Aspen Mountain. The one-night-only pop-up challenged traditional tasting settings by utilizing high altitude to transform how guests experience bourbon.

Because at high elevations your taste buds change. Lower atmospheric pressure and humidity decrease the tongue's sensitivity to sweet and salty tastes up to 30%.

In bourbon, subtle vanilla and caramel sweet notes become less dominant and savory umami tastes take over highlighting the underlying oak, spice, toast, and cereal characteristics, giving the spirit a distinctly savory, earthy profile.

And so we served the one-night-only "Summit Sour," an elevation-engineered cocktail featuring cocoa butter oil-washed Maker's Mark, local strawberries, malted wheat, honey syrup, and a nitrogen-infused texture.

Strategy, Idea generation, campaign development, experiential