Sensorial Summer Series

Whisky tasting is already a sensory experience. For The Glenlivet Sensorial Summer Series, our challenge was to take what guests could discover in the glass and build an entire environment around it.

Working with Pernod Ricard South Africa, Monks Media developed a series of intimate experiences across four KwaZulu-Natal restaurants, hosted by Sinako “Snakes” Dunywa and designed to introduce guests to The Glenlivet through taste, scent, texture, sound and storytelling.

Rather than applying one event treatment to four different venues, we worked with each restaurant as part of the experience. Big Fish Umhlanga, Butlers Hillcrest, Chef’s Table and Fire & Vine Pietermaritzburg each provided a different setting, while a consistent sensory language connected the series back to The Glenlivet.

The whisky itself became our creative palette.

Tasting notes were translated into the tablescape through fresh fruit, vanilla and malt-scented candles, tactile linens and botanical arrangements created with Simply Bliss. Instead of décor existing simply to make the table beautiful, individual elements were selected to help guests recognise and explore characteristics they would encounter during the tasting.

Sound added another layer.

We created a custom Spotify experience that combined local and international music with sounds inspired by the Scottish Highlands, connecting The Glenlivet’s heritage and sense of place with a contemporary South African audience.

The digital experience was accessed through an edible touchpoint: a custom sugar biscuit printed with a Spotify wave. Guests could scan the biscuit to move from the physical experience into the curated soundtrack, allowing one of the smallest details on the table to open another dimension of the brand story.

Food provided a further opportunity for interpretation, with desserts from each host restaurant paired with the whisky collection to demonstrate how flavour could change, complement and reveal different characteristics in the liquid.

By Simone Collection styled Sinako and the brand ambassadors throughout the series, extending the sensory thinking into fashion and creating another layer of visual storytelling around each event.

What connected the series was not a repeated event formula. It was a repeated idea.

Across different restaurants, menus and audiences, The Glenlivet remained recognisable because its product characteristics became the building blocks of the experience itself.