Despite how “molecular mixology” is a term a lot of people dislike, it’s just the term that’s new, not the concept: many classic cocktails used (without necessarily knowing all the science) some of the same techniques. Led by Jacob Briars from 42 Below and Sebastian Reaburn (from New Zealand and Australia, respectively). Probably some of the best swag was at this one (not to belittle the content): a huge 42 Below muddler, a likewise-branded simple bottle, Cherry Heering 1½ / ¾ oz jigger.

• 1909: the Futurist Manifesto on Food by Marinetti released:
  • “No more pasta!”
  • perfect meals required harmony, including so far as furniture in the room
  • absolute originality
  • Marinetti was interested in “the evolution of knife and fork” (whatever that means)
  • courses in a meal to see or smell, not to eat (which molecular gastronomy is doing, but mixology probably couldn’t get away with)
  • colloidal mills to pre-chew food for you to make it easier to eat
  • chemicals to test pH and sugar levels in food
  • Why, then, did it take 100 years for molecular stuff to take off? (No real clear answer provided, so maybe it was rhetorical…)
• molecular mixology should just be tricky fancy stuff, it relates to the thought process
• deconstructing drinks helps us understand them, teach them, see what the techniques are actually doing
• some place in Toronto (missed the name) is doing a cold-smoked Manhattan in jelly form, served under a globe with the smoke roiling around it (be nice to figure out where…)
• Jerry Thomas got there first:
  • Ramos Gin Fizz – colloidal reaction in the eggs & cream
  • Blue Blazer – burning whiskey removes specific flavors: see also Burnt Brandy
  • Clover Club – egg white as a foaming agent:
    • traps, in emulsification, flavors that might have escaped as gass bubbles, which are then released in your mouth
    • foams are bad in cocktail glasses (rather than coupes) because the foam “runs away” from the drinker
    • for vegans (Jacob is): use soy lecithan, which almost works
• tasting is a Bloody Mary because it “has all the aspects of taste”
  • 2 pts vodka
  • 5 pts tomato
  • ½ pts lemon
  • 1 pinch each of cayenne & black pepper
  • dash of lime
  • dash of cherry heering
• The old taste location map of the tongue (sweet in front, salt behind, sour behind that, bitter at the back) is bogus: from a mis-translation of a German article.
• You do not taste with your palate, taste is in the brain, the palate is just the host to a chemical reaction.
• The first taste we have in life is sweetness, the others develop later, and some people never actually develop them all. “If you really like sweet drinks, you’re essentially a child.”
• the tastes are:
  • sweet (Cherry Heering in the tasting)
  • salty (duh)
  • sour (lemon)
  • bitter – the taste some people never really develop
  • umami (from the tomato here) – amino acids
  • smoke – ~ 5 years ago, discovered (citation?) that 70-80% of the population tastes smoke as a distinct flavor
• How to manipulate our reaction to flavors: affect people’s emotion, expectation, attention, memory, vision, and hearing
• Tricky and fancy presentation (flaming, etc) stimulates the mind before tasting the drink (even if some of it also changes the taste)
  • smelling coffee beans (popular at wine tastings now) does NOT “reset your palate” — “You’re just… smelling coffee!”
  • stepping away from the palate fatigue to do anything else gives your brain a break
  • Bartending is entertainment: competing with movie theaters, not restaurants
  • Everything in a tiki bar or a speakeasy-style bar you know what to expect.
  • To shake things up, a bar in Melbourne (missed the name) hangs all their bottles from bungee cords
• next tasting: a Corpse Reviver #2, revived (Craddock / Hester)
  • 1 part Bombay Sapphire
  • 1 part Cointreau
  • 1 part Lillet Blonde
  • 1 part lemon juice
  • … and an absinthe “shock”
  • The absinthe shock was in an inflated balloon, held over the drink (in front of the customer) and popped in their face
  • The absinthe balloon resets your taste buds / brain because of the surprise
• Going through the bartender psychologist routine and patter to cheer people up really will make them think things taste better.
• See also keeping constant contact with customers, to make them know that they’re attended upon
• Expectation on the customer’s side is important: don’t lose their trust
• The cocktail menu sets expectations as well.
• Flavor stimulates memory: eg, vanilla, present in breast milk; grape is another early-life flavor
• Vision is important to: server the same wine in three different glasses (especially varying quality) and people will assert that they like the one in the prettiest glass best
• The two Corpse Revivers we were given alternately were the same drink, just with blue food coloring in one: really, no difference, but because we associate that blue color with TGIF, we’re less inclined to like it
• Play music that’s cohesive with the tone of the bar.
• Actually explain with words that describe the tastes what’s in the drink, not just what ingredients you used.
• Thought experiment: How would you explain the flavor of coffee to someone who’d never had it?
• Japanese bartenders stir carefully only around the outside of the mixing glass to avoid “offending the ear”
• Deconstructing the Old Fashioned:
  • more of a style rather than a specific drink
  • colder, larger ice, different shakes, etc: we don’t necessarily understand the reasons we’re told to do these things in a specific way
  • One of them (Sebastian, I think?) uses the Old Fashioned as a test for a bar he hasn’t visited before (gr: oddly, I did that in the Carousel Bar on the first night, which is why I wasn’t ever back there)
  • UK Old Fashioned style differs greatly from US style: they keep adding whiskey and ice in small proportions while stirring for 5 to 7 minutes…
  • … but Why? Testing what that process produces:
    • At the start, the ice is at -3° C, bourbon is at 24° C, simple syrup is at 23° C
    • 1 minute of stirring takes the bourbon to 12° C
    • 2 minutes it’s below 0° C
    • after 5 minutes it’s down to -5° C
    • after 7 minutes it’s still about -5° C (gr: but more diluted, right?)
    • So the difference is temperature and ABV
    • Final temperature was -5° C with a volume of 112 mL, and an ABV of 20.09% / 40.18 proof
  • That might be too low a proof for an Old Fashioned, but you do want to bring it down to ~60 proof to avoid an ethanol burn
  • If you warm alcohol too much, the flavor escapes with the ethanol evaporation.
  • Contrarily, lowering the temperature slows the molecules in it down so that they don’t escape as quickly, then when they hit your palate, the flavor is released
• Conclusions:
  1. Bartenders 150 years ago knew what they were doing.
  2. The Old Fashioned can be batched (as long as you keep it at -5° C)
• Which leads to another tasting, a Tequila Old Fashioned, constructed in a bucket at the beginning of the session (and yes, it was fine):
  • 6 pts chilled (-10° C) tequila
  • 2 pts spring water near 0° C
  • 1 pt simple syrup
  • 1 pt gum arabic (made with acacia; present here as an emulsifier to give weight / silkiness)
  • 3 dashes Peychaud’s (per serving, I have to assume)
  • ½ (?) pt Cherry Heering
  • and some sodium agenate? It was moving kind of quickly there…