X MUSE, pronounced ‘tenth muse’, is the first blended barley vodka inspired by the spirit making traditions of Scotland. X MUSE draws on that history and experience, employing craft and new methods, blend heritage barley and the purest water to produce a delicious vodka of the richest, deepest character and qualities. This really is a special vodka and it looks great too. We caught up with founders Vadim Grigoryan and Robert Wilson to find out more about X MUSE.
How did it all start?
Robert: I met Vadim serendipitously when he attended an event at Jupiter Artland, and it was very much a meeting of minds. We discussed our shared passion for philosophy, alchemy, creative spirit and actual spirits.
Vadim: During this fateful encounter, Robert mentioned he was looking for another use for the precious water source beneath an ancient aquifer at Jupiter Artland, which inspired American cultural theorist and landscape designer Charles Jencks to create Cells of Life – eight site-specific landforms that form the park’s utopian centrepiece.
Coming from a 15-year career at Pernod Ricard, I had long held the desire to create a brand that would be culturally enriching and respectful of its ingredients, so pointed out to Robert that most spirits comprise of 60% water and if using quality water coming from an exceptionally beautiful, natural water source, it could greatly contribute to the taste and perception of the resulting spirit.
Robert: It was an epiphanous moment to use the pure water from Jupiter Artland, and as a result, the idea of creating a luxury vodka brand with art and contemporary art practice at its centre was born. And here we find ourselves today.
Tell us about X MUSE and what makes this vodka special?
Vadim: X MUSE is the first blended barley vodka inspired by Scottish spirit-making at the intersection of drinks innovation and the art thinking world. Over three years, we worked with specialists at Heriot-Watt University to select two heritage varieties of barley, Plumage Archer and Maris Otter which are prized for their taste. They are distilled separately and blended in precise quantities to create the smooth and complex flavour of X MUSE.
By only using the finest British ingredients, we are able to produce X MUSE in batches of consistent quality but with subtle differences in organoleptic profile, embracing the variety of nature.
Robert: Unique to the brand as well is that contemporary art is at the very core of X MUSE’s DNA. Every aspect of the vodka is inspired by the artwork at Jupiter Artland. The brand’s name is drawn from an artwork by Scottish poet, artist, and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay, American landscape artist Charles Jencks’ monumental work Cells of Life at Jupiter Artland has been translated into a unique bottle design. A small amount of water used in the distillation process, referred to as ‘Magic Drops’ is energised in a glass vortex and rested on amethyst crystals, as a homage to British artist Anya Gallaccio’s amethyst grotto The Lights Pours Out of Me.
What makes Scotland better than the rest of the UK when it comes to producing quality spirits?
Robert: The country’s spirit-making traditions date back to the 11th century and play an important role in our national identity. Nowadays, Scotland is home to some of the most desired brown spirits in the world. Whilst we are inspired by this spirit making legacy, we also see ourselves as contributing to its further development by applying the knowledge to the production of quality vodka. Additionally, Scotland has an incomparable level of authenticity and the pristine, spiritual aura is conducive to the development of high-end aspirational brands.
What food works well with your vodka?
Vadim: The distinctive, elegant complexity of X MUSE and its use of native British ingredients, allows the vodka to work in perfect harmony with savoury ingredients, especially seafood and local seasonal produce. Scottish Orkney scallops, langoustines, or noble white fish dishes, such as roasted turbot or Dover sole make fantastic pairings. Caviar is an especially good accompaniment with X MUSE as the flavour profile marries perfectly with the oily nature of Beluga or Sevruga caviar.
You have a Gastronomic Muse in Chef Carlo Scotto of Amethyst in Mayfair. Tell us about this partnership.
Robert: Yes, we have excitedly just announced Carlo Scotto as our first-ever Gastronomy Muse. Carlo is a fantastically creative chef, and the partnership is very much anchored in our shared passions for pushing boundaries in quality, flavour and refined experiences in both drink and food.We will be working with him design creative food pairings for X MUSE that will be released throughout the year. The first of these, is his Yuba Tartelette, made with Scottish salmon, yuzu jelly and pistachio as a nod to X MUSE’s Scottish roots and his own Italian heritage and international culinary influences. The dish was conceived as a perfect savoury pairing to accompany sipping the vodka neat or with the X MUSE signature martini.
The Yuba Tartelette will be served exclusively within the X MUSE Temple at Jupiter Artland where guests will be able to try it alongside the vodka when the experience reopens from 29 April – 1 October.
Vadim: We have also created a new Amethyst Martini in honour of our shared connection to the crystals, which in addition to the name of his restaurant, is also Carlo’s birthstone. It is a masterful blend of X MUSE infused with butterfly pea flowers, Manzanilla, St Germain and Verjus garnished with a purple pickled onion – you can mix it at home using the recipe on our website or order it at Amethyst in Mayfair.
Tell us about the X MUSE Temple experience and how can people get involved?
Robert: The X MUSE Temple is our flagship brand experience on the grounds of Jupiter Artland sculpture park, the brand’s spiritual home. Open seasonally from Spring to Fall, every aspect of the experience – from the structure to the glassware and tasting workshop – has been designed by the formidable Milan-based studio Formafantasma. Guests can interact with the individually designed elements during a full-scale product presentation and tasting workshop that includes sampling the individual component vodkas as well as a delicious signature cocktail – and now the creative food pairing too!
Tickets, priced at £20, can be pre-booked via the Jupiter Artland website and include entry to the sculpture park where guests can then see all the artworks that X MUSE draws inspiration from.
Can sustainability in spirits ever become the norm?
Vadim: Sustainability is a must in any business operating in the Anthropocene. We as brand owners, and we as consumers, all have a joint responsibility to be careful in the way we impact the future of the planet.
Robert: For us, it has always been a natural part of the business and we quietly work hard behind the scenes to produce as locally as possible to the best of our ability. Most of our ingredients, packaging components, glass bottles and labels all come from within the UK. The full production process – distillation, blending and hand bottling – takes place within a short drive from Jupiter Artland in Scotland.
When it comes to creating X MUSE, what do you do at home to train your nose, palate and senses to be the best they can be?
Vadim: The most important sense responsible for our appreciation of wine and spirits is taste, while the nose gives us most of the pleasure. With X MUSE, we wanted to create a new generation vodka that defies the notion of vodka being something tasteless and odourless.
Our vodka is delicate but it is not neutral at all. And so, the nose has a critical function in understanding our quality. Like any senses, the nose needs training and development. A simple way of doing this is to nose different plants, herbs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables as much as you can. As a child, my father took me to a local market and made me closely experience different produce and spices every single week. I am sure this contributed greatly to the development of my sense. Today I try to express in words what I feel olfactorily almost any time I drink a glass of wine or a spirit.
If you could award a Michelin star for mixology right now, who would it be to and why?
Vadim: Hold that thought. We have actually just announced the X MUSE Art of Bartending Competition, designed to extend the limits of imaginative mixology as well as champion the technical precision and sophistication of even the simplest vodka martini. A fantastic group of up-and-coming bartenders, each of whom demonstrate artistry and innovation in their cocktail making and have been nominated by drinks industry titans from across England and Scotland, will compete to become the first ever X MUSE Art of Bartending Prize winner. The competition is now underway with heats in London and Scotland in May before the finals at Jupiter Artland in June. We’ll come back to you when we have a winner!
Robert: It is also great to see the inclusion of cocktail mixology in this year’s Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland, which speaks volumes about the creativity and innovation we are seeing in the industry at the moment. A big congratulations to Makis Kazakis and his bar team from Park Chinois on their win!
To discover more, visit: xmusevodka.com
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All imagery courtesy of X MUSE.