Tori Black Signs On to Promote Whisky By-X

It's always nice when adult performers are recognized by the mainstream world, whether it be Belle Knox's notoriety as the "Duke University porn star," or Sunny Leone scoring high marks for her Bollywood work, or Nina Hartley getting profiled by Cosmo—but when we heard that actress-turned-director Tori Black had lent her name to Whisky By-X, we had to find out more, more, more! "Before Tori, we contacted [Dutch model and entrepreneur] Joy van Velsen; she's the first model we selected, but luckily, the world seems small sometimes, and we were able to contact Tori via somebody who knows [talent agent] Derek [Hay]," explained Tom, one of the principals of Whiskey By-X. "We think that Tori represents the perfect balance between elegance and sexy. Tori is the kind of woman that amazes while wearing an elegant dress but at the same times seems accessible, natural like a girl next door." Tori may indeed be accessible, but it's undoubtedly the "elegance" part that'll attract whiskey fans, since the 40 percent single malt/60 percent single grain beverage sells for nearly $130 per bottle. "I'd like to stress that the quality of the whiskey is very high," Hay noted. "This is not a novelty product where you have a low-grade whiskey that is being marketed with Tori's branding on it. It's actually a very high-quality whiskey." "It is," Tom readily agreed. "It's carefully selected by Mr. Whiskey from the Netherlands. He's a young guy who has a company which does our bottling process and our filtering process, a company that's been doing those things for over 150 years, and he selected the whiskey for us in Scotland. We wanted our own taste, so we chose the 40 percent single malt and 60 percent single grain blend because we wanted it to be a whiskey that is drinkable for everyone, so it's a soft tasting whiskey. Everybody who tastes it will like it. It has wide appeal." And, of course, so does Tori—hence we were fascinated by the claim that By-X's whiskey is "body blended," and wondered just what that meant. "I would say it's much more fantasy, the sense of it being poured down me and being blended with my skin and my scent and my flesh; that's the fantasy," Tori explained. "But  when we shot the video, they did actually cover me pretty good in actual whiskey, which we then very quickly switched to tea because if you actually cover yourself in whiskey, it burns pretty good," she chuckled. That short video, apparently shot in an upscale Las Vegas hotel, shows Tori entering an elegant suite, picking up a cellphone which a barely-seen gentleman has left for her, and after posing briefly on the couch in a black mini-robe, she enters the suite's bathroom, locks the door, and emerges a few minutes later carrying a glass of whiskey—and promptly throws the cellphone on the bed. The video concludes just as the barely-seen guy picks up the phone and is about to press "play." One of the other marketing claims that puzzled us was that the whiskey is both gold- and diamond-filtered, thereby producing "an exquisite and intense whisky." "Yes, that is what happens," Tom assured. "Both diamonds and gold represent luxury, and we simply wanted to surprise the senses of our customers with an extra dimension of luxury and purity. We want to enhance the experience of our customers by letting them know it's not just the whiskey they're tasting." We also wondered how Tom and his partners got the idea to use American porn stars to promote their product in the first place. "It started with a love for whiskey," Tom explained, "and the traditional whiskey market is always about the heritage of whiskey, about the careful production process, but we wanted to create a different aspect to our whiskey, a different story, something funny, something uncommon. When you order whiskey at a bar, the bartender always talks about the product's careful production process, but we wanted to include something funnier and more college-like. After all, we're a couple of students combined with some experienced vintners, so that's our world: beautiful women and great whiskey." "I think that it's an absolute honor to represent this brand," Tori added. "As a girl in this industry, you're surrounded by all these negative connotations and assumptions, and you're not necessarily portrayed in the most flattering light, and you're constantly fighting that in your career, and I really feel like I've gotten to a place where people are starting to see me more for who I am as a whole person as opposed to just what I do on camera. There's much more involved in my career, and I feel like the elegance and sexuality that Tom speaks of is something that I've been pushing for for a long time, so I feel as though this is a good marker, saying that I have made yet another transition in my career. There are lots more opportunities to come, and it's kind of like a validation that all those things that people say about porn stars, there's really no boundaries for us other than the ones we set for ourselves. So I'm honored and appreciative and excited." Whiskey By-X is sold in a "black and gold luxury box," which "delivers additional information that highlights the quality of our whisky, filtering and blending methods. By-X added a certificate to ensure that the bearer has received an official bottle and that indeed the whisky is body blended. ... Our striking bottle and iconic label will stand out across the world as a mark of our exclusive cooperation with top models from the industry." "I'd also like to add that if my fans should choose to purchase the product and they see me at any event, I'd be happy to sign the box or take pictures with them," Tori offered. "As much as my fans really want to come and support me in my career, I would really want to show that love back and let them know if they want to tweet to me about the product or instant message me on Instagram about the product, I would definitely be very responsive. I just want them to know that this support goes two ways."