How Whisky And Cinema Help Virtual Travelers Connect To Scotland
You rent the movies, and Away from the Ordinary ships the good stuff for a “meaningful and fun” tasting session.
In the 1983 award-winning comedy Local Hero, a big city Texas oil executive is forced by his boss to relocate to a small Scottish village for the purpose of turning it into an oil refinery. Without spoiling the fun, this film's protagonist meets some colorful, zany characters along the way and plenty of lessons are learned. It's a classic fish out of water tale that reminds viewers of the good that can come from new experiences, and that's what makes it such a good choice for the first film in Away from the Ordinary's new "Watch with Whisky" program.
At a time when family vacations and dream getaways are still postponed indefinitely, Aeneas O'Hara is encouraging people to consider Scotland as their next destination by pairing whiskies with classic Scottish cinema. The CEO and founder of Away from the Ordinary already has a knack for cultivating private tasting experiences, including those of the digital variety, and these sessions help everyone from beginners to aficionados earn a better understanding of not only tasting notes and basic knowledge, but also the histories and legends of the distilleries and their celebrated spirits.
O'Hara has personally selected the whiskies and films for this program with the hopes of putting Scotland on the radars if would-be travelers.
"I have always had an interest in Scotland's big screen portrayal and have a special place in my heart for Local Hero," he explained. "The film continues to truly capture people's imagination around the world. We at Away from the Ordinary wanted to create a platform for the international community to get to know and love Scotland's whisky and creative cinematic presence in the same way we do.
"More than that, we are passionate about finding a way to help global travelers really connect to Scotland in a meaningful and fun way during such a challenging time. All I can say is that I am already excited for the next film in the series; it is truly a joy to pull together these Watch with Whisky tastings, and I look forward to hearing how they are received."
The program's $145 price includes the five whisky samples, instructions and postage, but participants will have to handle movie streaming on their own. Local Hero, for example, is available for rental on Amazon Prime, as is So I Married and Ax Murderer, which is our own recommendation. We suggest the Lagavulin 11-year Nick Offerman edition, but we'll let the pros handle the rest.