Bulleit Frontier Whiskey opened up a new chapter of the Bulleit Pioneer Project this week with the Bulleit Limitless Lounge; a multisensory immersive bar experience in Downtown LA. The Pioneer Project is Bulleit’s multi-year commitment to championing and amplifying those breaking new ground in culture.

The Bulleit Limitless Lounge reimagines what a bar can be by uniting art, design, cocktails, music and precision projection mapping technology to create a physical space where the walls, furniture and floor change from one scene to another while guests sip on cocktails designed to accompany and accentuate the visual experience.

This act is the latest experiential manifestation of Bulleit’s Frontier Spirit which it defines as “the heart to push past what is, in pursuit of what could be.” The experience invites guests to push past their understanding of what a bar is and could be through four dynamic, immersive scenes created to spark inspiration and wonder.

Collaborating with modern pioneers

To create the four scenes which span Nature, Art, Music and Imagination, Bulleit partnered with the immersive media artists at Optical Animal, who specialize in designing and implementing digital experiences that facilitate meaningful human interactions and push the potential of technology in art.

Optical Animal created the audio/visual experience by combining a variety of visual styles and a richly textured soundscape and also brought on a plethora of creative collaborators, including Emmy Award-winning artist, illustrator, animator Mike Perry, and the renowned muralist duo boogieREZ, among others. UnitedMasters duo Bronze Whale was also tapped to contribute an original track for the Music scene, and American Forests, one of Bulleit’s key partners, served as a key contributor to the Nature scene.

Guests experiencing the Bulleit Limitless Lounge were treated to a selection of cocktails created by mixologist Crystal Mendoza. Each of her four creations was inspired by elements shown in the scenes.

Unlocking inspiration

The Nature Scene sees a hyper-real luminescent forest grow slowly before surrounding the entire space. As the scene progresses, a dense, lush green forest sprouts up around the guests and a stream flows through the middle of the experience. As night falls in the forest the sound of insects and rain envelop the space as it builds towards the transition to the next scene.

The scene served as inspiration for a sherry cobbler style cocktail with notes of slight orange nutty notes served in a mushroom glass and on a tray with fake moss, leaves, and various nature-inspired elements.

The Art Scene immerses guests in a rich and layered audiovisual feast. The sound of an army of spray paint cans intensifies around the empty space as BoogieREZ’s graffiti envelopes the whole room. Sounds of paint rollers, brushes, and an urban soundscape are interspersed with the voices of the artists talking about their creative process.

Accompanying the art scene was a spirit-forward split-based (Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit Rye) cocktail that leaned into the art and culture of Downtown LA. The glassware included edible spray paint inspired by Downtown LA’s legendary graffiti scene.

The Music Scene begins as a single bouncing thread that wraps the room, reacting to the sounds of United Masters artist Bronze Whale’s track ‘Good Enough’. As the track builds, the room transforms around you into a wildly colorful variety of audio visualizations that react to the music.

Inspired by this scene, Crystal Mendoza created a bright refreshing cocktail with a multi-sensory feel that imitates what it feels like to be at a concert. The glassware included multi-colored light to illuminate the color within the crushed ice.

The final scene; Imagination, takes guests inside Mike Perry’s mind- into a world of colorful abstract shapes and patterns, changing and transforming. Melting lines and funky shapes combine into tableaus of color and geometry as the world of Mike’s mind continues to transform.

Imagination’s matching drink was a Bulleit Bourbon-based carbonated cocktail that reimagined cocktail presentation expectations with edible glitter and custom-engraved ice.

“The Bulleit Limitless Lounge translates the essence of the Bulleit Pioneer Project into a physical and accessible activation through a reimagined bar that pushes the boundaries of what a bar environment can be,” Jesse Damashek, Senior Vice President of Whiskies & Liqueurs at Diageo, said in a news release. “We set out to design an experience with the power to unlock inspiration in those who experience this incredible, reimagined space. I’m proud that our team of amazing pioneering partners have built a mind-bending, boundary-pushing, immersive experience that inspires awe and awakens the imagination of all who enter it.”

The Bulleit Limitless Lounge took place at Warehouse 15, 930 Mateo St in Downtown LA. All guests were over the age of 21. Details for future activations of the Bulleit Limitless Lounge in different locations in the U.S. will be made in the coming months.

For more information, visit www.bulleit.com.