Page 109 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER 2024 SCOTLAND

No, Soderbergh is not contemplating a come to pass. His Bolivian casting director,
spine-tingling ghost story, a la Presence, Rodrigo Bellott, had planned to give Soder‐
his 2024 directorial release bergh a T-shirt at the party
starring Lucy Liu and Chris but decided at the last
Sullivan. Rather, the spirit minute to offer him some‐
which so intrigued him is thing substantially more
more of the tongue-tin‐ unique---a bottle of Singani
gling kind---a South Ameri‐ from the Casa Real Bolivian
can tipple he discovered in distillery, which Bellott
2007 on the set of Che, miraculously managed to
about the Marxist revolu‐ source on Madrid’s black
tionary, Che Guevara. market.
Soderbergh’s obsession “This is how close this
with Singani, the national came to not happening,”
spirit of Bolivia, would Soderbergh says. “But this is
eventually lead him on an how the universe works.”
Odyssean adventure to be‐ After just one night with
come the first person to Singani, Soderbergh was
export it, launching his own smitten. “The effect itself, it’s
brand, Singani 63, in the more like a ‘high’ than a
process. ‘drunk,’” he explains. “It was
Soderbergh has been all up in your head, like you
in London filming Black were buzzing. I was like,
Bag, a thriller starring Cate that’s interesting. I knew
Blanchett, Regé-Jean something was started,” he
Page, Naomie Harris and recalls. “But I didn’t know
Michael Fassbender, what.”
among others. But he’s True to his film-making
capitalised on his time in background, Soderbergh de‐
town to promote his pas‐ scribes the Singani experi‐
sion project—his bottled ence as having “a three-act
Bolivian temptress. structure.” First, it heralds its
Casually dressed in a arrival with a surprisingly
grey blazer over a faded floral bouquet. Next, there’s
blue T-shirt and sprouting the effect on the palette. “It’s
salt-and-pepper stubble, a very polyphonic taste. It’s
Soderbergh animatedly re‐ not a note,” Soderbergh in‐
counts how his serendipitous introduction sists. “It’s a chord. And then it just vanishes.
to Singani—at a “start-up party” for Che’s You swallow it, and it’s gone. There’s no
cast and crew in Madrid--almost didn’t burn. That’s the real surprise.”

Opposite: Steven Soderbergh and The Breakfast in Bed cocktail, with Singani 63, Apricot Jam, Lemon,
his daughter, Sarah, the Director of Campari, and Grapefruit, pairs perfectly with a fruit-topped pavlova
Marketing for Singani 63. meringue.
Top: Silvertip Sour, with Singani 63, Jasmine Cordial, Apple Eau de Vie,
Lemon, and Peychaud's Bitters. Photos by Amy Laughinghouse.

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