Jugalbandi of form and content: Arc-52

The finest joint ventures are made of these. When Bowmore, the distillery in the Scottish island of Islay renowned for its aged whisky, decided to team up with James Bond-familiar luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin, something special was bound to happen. And thus comes the latest in that highest of high-end jugalbandis, the Arc-52, where content and form merge into something supremely precious. Bowmore's prized Islay has been aged for 50-plus years in two casks - a sherry butt (a cask holding about 477 litres) and American oak ex-bourbon hogshead (holding about 238.5 litres) - merged in equal proportion. The wholesome whole of those parts made for a gorgeous tasting whisky bottled at 42.3% alcohol by volume (ABV). Tasters have confirmed its creamy vanilla notes, with hints of citrus, tobacco and light peat on the tongue and fruit on the nose.

And then there is the bottle - rather, the decanter - Arc-52 comes in. Aston Martin designers have put the beauty in a beauty: a solid swirl of pyramidal glass that makes the liquid inside seem weightless as the vessel that holds it barely touches the surface it sits on lotus-positioned. Futuristic, while primordial. Both whisky and vessel make Arc-52. It's $125,000 a bottle. The finest Henry Moore stone sculpture would have nursed it with loving familiarity.