Throughout my career in the business of liquor I have constantly been inspired by my surroundings. Whether it was the man management skills I learnt in Leeds or the PR lessons (and tramp wrestling!) I absorbed in Manchester or just the passion for great drinks I gleaned from the all too brief spells in the company of messrs Bradsell and Langan. I have also taken many of my aspirations from the pages of the industry press. First it was Class, then Theme followed by Flvr and now back to Class but no matter what I was reading it never failed to inspire me to try different things and learn more. Believe me, it is a particularly sobering thought for a trainer, that the most important and motivational inputs in the majority of bartenders lives will be from the people they work with or the books and mags they read rather than the official training they receive.

It was with great disappointment then, that I recently admitted to being bored with cocktails. Trainees still ask me what my favourite cocktail is and, whereas before I would have launched in to a discourse on the botanical subtleties and ego enhancing power of a Plymouth Martini, I have recently been caused to shrug and deflect the question with talk of babies and ‘not getting out much any more’. But I am glad to say that my descent into bartending middle age has not been marked with a total crisis. I have just reached the stage where I have to step outside the comfort of twisting and tweaking things I have seen before and move into trying to create drinks that play on the next level.

We as great bartenders need to push a bit harder and challenge the conventions that are restrictive in terms of the drinks that can be produced. This is where I came across Molecular Gastronomy and all it had to offer in terms of a new approach to drinks creation. Many bartenders talk about what they do as an art-form but what they fail to realise is that drinks creation is not an art, it is a science. All of the interactions in the mouth and mind of the consumer of a cocktail have a basis in science. Whether it is the reactions of two complimentary flavours or the effects on the palate of different textures all of the good stuff that we produce starts with reactions at a molecular level.

For example take the aeration of drinks caused by shaking them vigorously over cubed ice. We all know that the act of shaking makes drinks taste smoother but have we ever paused to think why? The answer lies in the interruption of the flow of liquid over the tongue caused by the minute bubbles in the liquid. Why does the liquid settle out eventually, because the bubble walls have no support structures to sustain them and the liquid drains out of them. The solution to the problem of producing a drink that tastes freshly shaken all the way to the bottom… Put a source of protein into the drink to give the walls stability. Gelatin, Agar agar (Seaweed based gelling agent) or good old egg white will do the trick.

So with all this in mind it now falls to us to throw away the rule book and come up with new more fundamental ways of creating truly innovative drinks. It is sad that the two most innovative drinks I have heard of were created by a chef. Not just any chef mind you, he is arguably the best in the world.

Ferran Adria of El Bulli in Spain created a hot and cold whisky sours made from partially frozen liquid and hot foam on the top. These extremes of temperature and texture really enhance the experience as all of the senses are being tested. The other was a Pina Colada made of coconut and pineapple foam with a self contained Rum lozenge on the top. The foam coats the mouth in the same way that cream would, while the lozenge bursts with the slightest pressure to release the Rum into the mix.

This is an interesting approach to drinks as it goes for maximum impact on the pallet without knocking over the consumer with alcohol volume. Could we as bartenders/owners/managers take a queue from the restaurant industry and create longer and lighter experiences for our clientele. Rather than loading each drink with liquor, could we find more innovative ways of deliver the flavour punch that people are looking for in a drink. Could we try to get three drinks out of them at a smaller price to build to a bigger bill at the end rather than dispatching them to oblivion with one? Could we even have ten or fifteen course degustation menus without rendering the customer unconscious?

Gordon Ramsey said in one of his recent Kitchen Nightmares that the objective of the wait staff was to: a) make the customers want to come back and see them personally and b) to sell three courses to every fucking table (his exact words, unsurprisingly!). This would seem like a great set of rules for any bartender.

In order to make yourself memorable you have to be different. I wait with baited breath to see if anyone is brave enough to be different and try to get three spectacular cocktails into each customer and still have them walk (not stagger) away from the bar feeling like they have been on a rollercoaster ride of the possibilities hard liquor provides.