Graeme Jamieson on Molecular Mixology

I've been on a bit of a bender... but that's no bad thing, because last night I was hanging out with Angus Winchester, the fella behind London's finest drinking den, Trailer Happiness. Mr Win is a superhero for cocktail someliers the world over, and he pricked my ears with his chat on the future of booze, and what's in store for those who pour or simply take a drink or two.

Inbetween gin & tonics, gin sidecars, and too many gin martinis, we blethered about the Business of Pleasure, the Art of the Bartender, and most intriguingly, the Science of the Spirit.

In return for directing him to our dear Eugene's Jacuzzi, he gently guided me towards researching how molecular gastronomy is bleeding into molecular mixology... As yet, I feel I've failed to find a resource to furnish you with - outsida deep-linking to some messageboard - that offers a crystal understanding or clear example of what it is I'm trying to investigate.

Anyway, suffice to say that Hervé This, Heston Blumenthal, and Hal McGee are just some of the "Gastronaut" Poster-Boys we need to pay attention to. Y'see, since the 19th Century, great men have been whispering about the application of chemistry to the art of cookery, but only recently has the future curve of the cocktail been coming under serious scientific scrutiny.

Indeed, it seems it won't be too long before we're ordering mintless Juleps, cigar-flavoured Malts, and nitrous oxide Negroni's - the miniBar at Café Atlántico is amongst those already offering gin sans sloe - so I'm wondering where we stand on this, Mr Ionesco, and how much we already know?

Graeme Jamieson