(Photo: FEW Spirits)
1990s alt-rock legends The Smashing Pumpkins are teaming up with a distillery from their home state to deliver an aromatic, spice-forward flavored bourbon.
The 93-proof bottling comes courtesy of FEW Spirits, a grain-to-glass producer based in Evanston, Illinois, where Prohibition famously lasted until 1972. For master distiller Paul Hletko, rock 'n' roll is the name of the game: FEW Spirits previously collaborated with Alice in Chains for a limited-edition tequila-finished bourbon.
Its latest release, dubbed "Few Smashing Pumpkins," incorporates the band's legacy both figuratively and literally. Rather than using water to cut the spirit down, the bourbon was cut to bottling strength using black tea from Madame Zuzu's Emporium, a Chicago-based tea shop founded by Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and his wife, Chloé Mendel Corgan.
The resulting liquid is said to balance heady flavors of rose water, sandalwood, caramel and vanilla. Few Smashing Pumpkins Bourbon is now on sale at $55, coinciding with the release of the brand's upcoming single and North America tour.
"As a Chicagoan, I felt a personal responsibility to match the raw, primal energy of the Pumpkins," Hletko shared. "Press ‘play’ and you’re immediately struck by these thumping, propulsive drums, joined seconds later by a tight bassline groove before crunching guitars kick in to round out what, for me, is such a signature sound. That’s the driving, yet symphonic quality we wanted to bring to this liquid.”
The bottle's decidedly rock-inspired label was designed by visual artist Katelan Foisy, who has previously worked on the band's stage backdrops. Scrawled on the back label is the lyric "time is never time at all," a nod to The Smashing Pumpkin's hit 1996 song "Tonight, Tonight."
Few Smashing Pumpkins Bourbon is the latest in a welcome string of rock band-backed spirits to hit the market over the past year. In January, fellow '90s icons Deftones teamed up with Abre Ojos Distillery for a limited-edition tequila añejo inspired by their latest album. Other recent launches have included The Superjesus' Sumo Gin and Thin Lizzy's Thin Lizzy Irish Whiskey.
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