You are awestruck at the sudden facelift that your local bar has gone through. Punctuated with artworks, the walls now beam in a different tone. Lights have dimmed further. The acoustics turn more modest. Even the glassware has been replaced, not to mention the old menu along with its clichéd drinks and snacks.
"Where did you get the idea?!" You scream at the barman after taking the first sip of a drink. Your tongue has never been treated like this in your entire life! Even the layering of the drink with its various ingredients is stupendous.
The barman, looks nonplussed, all stumped for an answer.
He doesn't know that the idea took birth far away in England, where art sits across science at a table discussing in hushed tone the aesthetics of a proper drink. Bars, world over, eagerly listen to and adopt some of the findings they make over drinks.
The Drink Factory
Imagine a set of people from different walks of life like perfumers, designers, chocolatiers and chefs putting their heads together to create the perfect bar experience. What glassware, what snacks, what colour, what texture, what aroma, what lights, what setting and what design could give the customer the best moment in a bar.
No, it is not all talk, art and philosophy.
People under the leadership of Tony Conigliaro, the pioneer of drink creation, have a veritable laboratory at the Drink Factory, London, with test tubes, peristaltic pumps, thermomixers and centrifuge behind them to work the magic into the drinks they make.
The aim — to "create boldly imaginative tastes that delight the mouth and excite the mind in equal measure". The research centre, which also functions as a mini-university for lectures and product development, informs bartenders around the world about the revolutionary discoveries they make with the help of professionals.
Want to taste a few of their drinks?
Visit one of the bars run by Tony Conigliaro, The Bar With No Name a.k.a 69 Colebrooke Row, from where he rose to fame. A perfect hideaway in London, the bar is a delightfully designed retro room that puts you in a relaxed mood with its unassuming air.
Start with 'Initials', a cocktail infused with birch, and close your eyes for the magic to take over. You find yourself ambling through silvery woods. Or open your eyes to see how much care they put into mixing various concoctions to create perfect landscapes for your mind to wander.
Perhaps the most popular item on the menu is the Prairies Oyster. Served Oyster style, the drink must be gulped in one go.
Want to rip it apart to see how the spell is made? The answer is simple — Tomato, yolk, horseradish, vodka, and some proper research. That is where The Drink Factory comes in.
(Manu Remakant is a freelance writer who also runs a video blog — A Cup of Kavitha — introducing world poetry to Malayalees. Views expressed here are personal)
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