Not knowing too much about the nuances of wine or wine pairing myself, I started to delve into the subject
of viticulture. After studying up on tannins and terroirs I felt like an outsider to my own mouth, trying to map foreign flavors to each tastebud and not doing a good job of it. It actually reminded me of my first year as
a Barista in 2005 ( 1 ). 

I switched gears into the legacy of Punk musicians. Deeper in study on Punks and vino, it was becoming apparent that to merely appropriate the Punk aesthetic felt antithetical to the ideals of the movement. I kept returning to the concept of sensory experiences: sound, touch, taste, sight, and my own journey as a barista. Refining one's palette beyond yuck and yum felt like such a blind task, and the history of Punk musicians being untrained, and initially rejected (2) within the industry was the connection I couldn't shake. The passion of the artists to not only persist, but succeed in resonating so deeply with their audience it still remains vital today, so many generations later, was something I wanted to honor.

Not knowing too much about the nuances of Wine or wine pairing, I started to delve into the subject of viticulture. After studying up on tannins and terroirs I felt like an outsider to my own mouth, trying to map foreign flavors to each tastebud and not doing a good job of it.
It reminded me of my first year as a Barista
in 2005 ( 1 ). 

I switched gears into the legacy of Punk musicians. Deeper in study on Punks and vino, it was becoming apparent that to merely appropriate the Punk aesthetic felt antithetical to the ideals of the movement. I kept returning to the concept of sensory experiences: sound, touch, taste, sight, and my own journey as a barista. Refining one's palette beyond yuck
and yum felt like such a blind task, and the history of Punk musicians being untrained, and initially rejected (2) within the industry was the connection I couldn't shake. The passion of
the artists to not only persist, but resonate
so deeply with their audience for so many generations was something I wanted to honor.

I began to scrutinize each threshold of the wine-appreciation experience. Working backwards from the lips to the
shelf; even if you hadn't tasted wine before, you might still have an impression about it. The mere existence of sommeliers manifested the looming sense of outsider status into phyiscal form. And it was with that image of someone just pouring a bottle of  wine like they knew what they were doing, that I wanted to snap the user out of any sense of 'absolutes' and put them off kilter. From there, things started to fall into place. I needed to alter the exterior of the bottle so that it deterred any impulse to grasp it. So in the first iteration of the bottles I used shards of glass in the place a label would have gone. Without changing the underlying form of the bottle, this forced the grip to the neck (and combined with the shifting weight of the liquid inside) made the experience ungainly—and appropriately a little more punk.

I began to scrutinize each threshold of the wine-appreciation experience. Working backwards from the lips to the shelf, even if you hadn't tasted wine before, you might still have an impression about it. The mere existence of sommeliers manifested the looming sense of outsider status into phyiscal form. And it was with that image of someone pouring a bottle of  wine like they knew what they were doing, that I wanted to snap the user out of any sense of 'absolutes' and put them off kilter. From there, things started to fall into place. I needed to alter the exterior of the bottle so that it rejecting any impulse to grasp it. So in the first iteration of the bottles I used shards of glass in the place the label would have gone. Without changing the underlying form of the bottle, this forced the grip to the neck (and combined with the shifting weight of the liquid inside) made the experience ungainly—and appropriately a little more punk.

After some controversy ( read: success ) during my critique of the prototypes, I refined the system by adding
a wider range of punk ephemera. I replaced the glass with studs and safety pins on the other two bottles, and
used a matte and gloss black spray paint to unify the finished set. In fact, a few years later I actually received
a request to stock these from the beverage manager of a popular, music-themed Vegas Hotel. 

After the controversy (read: success) during
my critique of the prototypes, I refined the system by adding a wider range of punk ephemera. I replaced the glass with studs and safety pins on the other two bottles, and used a matte and gloss black spray paint to unify the finished set. In fact, a few years later I actually received a request to stock these from the beverage manager of a Vegas Hotel. 

1. I started working as a barista while an undergrad in Boston, and being newer to coffee-culture I generally appreciated the educational component that came with this brand of Partner Training. It did, however, have its share of less desirable moments. During an after-hours tasting event at the store, our District Manager unveiled a new Holiday Bean that was to pair perfectly with some new pastry offerings. Everyone was handed a tiny paper cup of the blend, and as we sipped at our sacrament, each of us was expected to share at least one flavor note that we could detect from the brew. My 20 year old tongue had nothing divine to offer, in fact the only descriptor that came to mind was 'cigarette butts' and absolutely certain that would not be an acceptable contribution, when it came my turn I mumbled in agreement about the Earthy quality another partner had successfully identified and concluded my turn with a bite of scone.

2. The trajectory of rejection to redemption is a consistent tale from many transformative movements and genre pushing artists:
from Modern Art, to Hip Hop, to the latest example of Country with Lil Nas X.

1. I started working as a barista while an undergrad in Boston, and being newer to coffee-culture I generally appreciated the educational component that came with this brand of Partner Training. It did, however, have its share of less desirable moments. During an after-hours tasting event at the store, our District Manager unveiled a new Holiday Bean that was to pair perfectly with some new pastry offerings. Everyone was handed a tiny paper cup of the blend, and as we sipped at our sacrament, each of us was expected to share at least one flavor note that we could detect from the brew. My 20 year old tongue had nothing divine to offer, in fact the only descriptor that came to mind was 'cigarette butts' and absolutely certain that would not be an acceptable contribution, when it came my turn I mumbled in agreement about the Earthy quality another partner had successfully identified and concluded my turn with a bite of scone.

2. The trajectory of rejection to redemption is a consistent tale from many transformative movements: Hip Hop, Punk, Modern Art, etc. 

CREDITS:
Portfolio Advisor: Eric P. Miller
Creative Direction: Hank Richardson

CREDITS:
Portfolio Advisor: Eric P. Miller
Creative Direction: Hank Richardson