Bob Dylan: Knocking on 'Heaven’s Door', whiskey in hand

He announced his line of whiskey in collaboration with Spirits Investment Partnership

bob-dylan-reuters (File) American musician Bob Dylan | Reuters

Bob Dylan has managed to surprise his fans and followers yet again. Be it writing songs, or painting or iron sculpting, he has proved to the world time and again that his artistic vision transcends the stage. The man recently hit the headlines with the announcement of his line of whiskey. The line is called “Heaven’s Door”, referring to the singer’s famous single Knockin’ on heaven’s door. The song itself doesn’t have anything to do with alcohol, or drinking, and doesn’t promote it.

The concept hit Marc Bushala, CEO of Spirits Investment Partnership, who spent weeks “obsessing over what a Dylan whiskey could be”, after he heard the news of Dylan being filed under a “bootleg whiskey” case. They are now releasing a collection of three whiskeys—a straight rye, a straight bourbon and a “double-barrelled” whiskey.

“We both wanted to create a collection of American whiskeys that, in their own way, tell a story,” Dylan said in a statement to a leading American daily. “I’ve been travelling for decades, and I’ve been able to try some of the best spirits that the world of whiskey has to offer.”

The surprise doesn’t end there. A signature of the man himself is hidden behind the label that one can see only when the bottle has been downed. It is also the only place his name appears on the packaging. The design of the bottles are inspired by his own iron work sculptures that include crows, wagon wheels in silhouette.

Dylan is not the first to venture into this business. George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila was sold last year to beverage magnate Diageo for up to $1 billion and Jay Z started his line of Armand de Brignac.

The man himself has tasted the whiskey and remarked, “This is a great whiskey.”

The standard line ranges from $50 to $80.

“For people who are surprised that he did a whiskey, I guess they don’t really know Dylan,” Bushala told the leading American daily. “People who know him expect him to do things they would never expect.”

As a crooner once said:

The whole world's a bottle,
and life's but a dram,
When the bottle gets empty,
It sure ain't worth a damn.

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