Jameson used to store their precious empty barrels outside, exposed to the Irish rain and wind. When a cask was needed again, it was plucked from the stack and a cooper would coax it back to life by setting a small fire inside the barrel.

'The Stack' at Bullitt Hotel tells this story. The once-neat barrel stack is disturbed – a barrel is removed and so begins the cascade of falling oak, or in this case, rusted metal. Fire is replaced with light as The Stack spreads its whiskey influence over the courtyard below.

Every aspect of this project is seeded in traditional values of craft. Draftsmanship and a sculptor’s vision began the process. Materials were tested, prototypes developed and changed, time and again. Wood was replaced – with 6mm Cor-Ten that quickly rusts and matures in the predictable Irish climate. Then barrels were stacked and re-stacked until frozen in perfect motion. Lights were tested and set to perfect effect. We welded, we clad, we wired, we signwrote... 

And, now finally we stand back and wait for nature to take her course and mature our barrels like the very whiskey they represent.

Positioned centrally in the Bullitt courtyard, adjacent to the outdoor bar, the sculpture complements the building behind, with its rusted upper façade and barrel-shaped port holes. Over time the barrels will age and continue to rust, a cascading structure by day and a source of cascading light by night.