Molecular mixology is the part of the bar that works with foams, smoke, bubbles and ice. Five families live here: cream and soda siphons, smoking with a smoking gun and wood chips, the Flavour Blaster with aromas and spares, the laboratory accessories and vacuum sealing.
Molecular mixology is the part of the bar that works with foams, smoke, bubbles and ice. Five families live here: cream and soda siphons, smoking with a smoking gun and wood chips, the Flavour Blaster with aromas and spares, the laboratory accessories and vacuum sealing.
Molecular mixology at the bar: five families, and which one to start with
Molecular mixology is not a product category, it is a way of working the drink beyond the shaker: whipping a foam, putting smoke inside an Old Fashioned, setting a scented bubble on a sour, making ice in the right shape, infusing a spirit in two hours instead of two weeks. Each technique has its tool, and the tools are grouped here into five families.
The techniques do not weigh the same on the P&L. Foam with a whisk spring costs little in kit and is made in the shaker you already have: it is the first step, and on a sour it changes the drink. The cream siphon makes the same foam in quantity and holds it for hours in the fridge: you prepare it before service and dispense it into every glass, always the same. Smoke costs a smoking gun and a cloche, and it sells on sight: the guest sees it at the table, and the next table orders it. The Flavour Blaster is the largest outlay in the category, and it pays for itself if the bubble goes on the menu with its own price.
The three pieces that make the serve
The 1 litre stainless steel soda siphon charges with one 7.8g CO2 capsule and holds its pressure to the last glass: for highballs and spritzes, one bottle fewer to open during the rush.
The Smoking Gun Pro burns wood chips and blows the smoke under the cloche: 700g of metal, it cold smokes cocktails, meat and fish without warming them.
The Flavour Blaster cocktail gun sets a bubble filled with scented vapour on the drink: the guest breaks it and the aroma is released before the first sip. Twenty-three aromas, and one bottle of liquid makes a thousand bubbles.
Where to begin, if you are starting from scratch
With foam and ice, which go on the menu without changing any recipe: a whisk spring, a sphere mould for drinks served on the rocks and a long block mould for highballs. Then the siphon, when you serve more than ten foams a night and the spring is not enough. Smoke and the bubble come later, and they go on the menu with a name and a price: they are techniques to sell, not to give away.
Care, in one line per family
Siphons do not go in the dishwasher, because of the seals in the head. Empty the ash from the smoking gun after every use and hand wash the cloche. The Flavour Blaster needs a new aroma reservoir every four weeks. Silicone moulds and steel springs go in the dishwasher. The bags are single use.
The tools for hand-worked ice, from the ice pick to the canvas bag, are in the ice accessories category.
Frequently asked questions
What is molecular mixology?
The set of techniques that work the drink beyond classic mixing: foams with a siphon or a spring, cold smoking, aroma bubbles, ice in controlled shapes and vacuum infusions. Each technique has its tool.
Which tool should you start with?
The whisk spring and ice moulds: they cost little, go on the menu without changing your recipes and change the drink straight away. The siphon comes when you serve a lot of foams, smoke and the bubble when they go on the menu with a price.
Are a cream siphon and a soda siphon the same tool?
No. A cream siphon charges with nitrous oxide (N2O) capsules and makes foams and whipped cream; a soda siphon charges with CO2 capsules and makes sparkling water. The capsules are not interchangeable.
Does an ordinary bar need a Flavour Blaster?
It does if the aroma bubble goes on the menu with a name and a price. It is the largest outlay in the category and it pays for itself through sales, not through the effect.
Do these tools go in the dishwasher?
Silicone moulds, springs and jugs do. Siphons, the smoking gun and the glass cloche do not: they are hand washed.
Molecular MixologyAdd
Molecular MixologyAdd
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