Virgin uses Artificial Intelligence to create world-first rum that tastes of you
Source: Nigel Thompson

Cheers! Raise a glass to the revolutionary new “Holiday Spirit” rum that puts the A and I into a Mai Tai.

Virgin Holidays has unveiled the world’s first “data-distilled” drink created by Artificial Intelligence – a bespoke booze they say is “infused with real emotions from holidaymakers around the world’’.

Sir Richard Branson ’s firm enlisted IBM’s Watson, the world’s most intelligent super-computer, to analyse the thoughts
and feelings of more than 15 MILLION holidaymakers from their posts on various social media platforms.

The predominant getaway emotions were then matched to more than 5,000 rum flavour descriptions and reviews to create a one-off rum recipe that was distilled at the Foursquare plant in Barbados .



Rum guru Ian Burrell

For example, Watson concluded happy equals vanilla, excited means sugar cane, curious can be matched with cinnamon and relaxed equals coconut.

The project was overseen by UK rum guru Ian Burrell to ensure that a recipe derived from Artificial Intelligence was accurately distilled.

Using his master blender skills, Ian carefully replicated the digital emotions expressed to create what Virgin Holidays hopes is a smooth, sweet and lightly spiced drink that captures the home of rum, the Caribbean.

A Virgin Holidays spokesman said: ‘’We’ve long been known for creating the ‘perfect blend’ when it comes to holidays, so we set ourselves the task of translating this into something tangible. Bottling the holiday spirit and creating a blend informed by joy, excitement, curiosity and confidence perfectly encapsulates the Virgin Holidays experience.’’

Ian added: “The Virgin Holiday Spirit has a subtle vanilla flavour, medium sweetness, hints of coconut and is naturally caressed with cinnamon and allspice.



The Virgin rum hits the beach in Barbados

‘’It was my first time collaborating with a super-computer to create a distinct blend, so we ensured a high level of quality control to deliver a premium palette experience. Tough job but someone has to do it.”