ALL ABOARD THE ABSOLUT EXPRESS : 'MAKE THE PRESENT EXCEPTIONAL' WITH A JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN
“Curiouser and curiouser,” cried Alice.
When I was asked whether I was free to attend an ABSOLUT event, it was a total no-brainer. I have always loved vodka and ABSOLUT in particular. Who hasn’t spent many an hour in duty free deliberating over which flavour to try next?! I didn’t quite know what to expect ahead of the event, but I had an inkling that the party would be anything but ordinary.
I had decided to go to the event solo to fully immerse myself in the ABSOLUT world without distraction. As I approached my destination on the night, Shoreditch’s Nicholls & Clarke building, notorious for its art exhibitions, sumptuous studio spaces and underground happenings, my pace quickened and I looked around for the door. It took me sometime to unearth the entrance. My sense of direction is often mislaid but on this occasion I wasn’t to blame. The ABSOLUT experience had already begun in earnest.
On entering the premises, I posed for a mug-shot and strolled into the atrium. Whilst supping a martini, I looked around at my surroundings. A digital countdown was beamed onto a wall to my left and a sense of anticipation bound all of us in the room together. It was like being in a feverish airport gate minutes before departure. As we imbibed our drinks, a gentleman in tails whisked each of us away one by one into a dark corner. ‘Are you ready?’, he asked in most rhetorical fashion. The selection process was entirely arbitrary so couples were broken up, friends snatched away. My heart began to race as I was approached, wherever was the Pied Piper of ABSOLUT taking me?