Shaken or stirred? That is the question Tim Laird and Steve Hughes get asked most often when they bring their “Science Behind the Cocktail” tour to various cities where they dish out insider knowledge on the core principles of making the perfect cocktail.
Laird, Chief Entertaining Officer for Brown-Forman Corp., a global marketer and producer of wine and spirits including Canadian Mist, and Hughes, Spirits Scientist for Brown-Forman Corp., will be in Richmond on Thursday, February 3 to host “Mistology: The Art and Science Behind the Cocktail” -- Mistology being a play on Brown-Forman’s Canadian Mist product, of course -- at the Science Museum of Virginia. Amateur cocktail-makers and seasoned bartenders alike are invited to come to this see hands-on demos, sample food and drink, but most importantly, get your burning questions answered and learn the secrets to making a tasty cocktail.
Master blender Hughes will go in-depth on such things like whisky density and fermentation, along with the functions of cooling and heat transfer in the preparation of a cocktail, including how much ice and exactly what kind is best to use in a drink. “There are a lot of cocktails where they use all of this crushed ice and it melts and it dilutes. So your first couple of sips are good but after that it’s all of this watered-down drink. It doesn’t taste right anymore,” explains Laird.
This after-hours event is also aimed at making people feel more confident about cocktail-making. “People are intimidated with making cocktails. You know, it’s easy to get a beer or open up a bottle of wine but at home, they go, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what to make. I don’t know what to mix.’ So what we do is take that intimidation out. We want them to go home, have fun with cocktails, and experiment on their own, discover new flavors,” says Laird.
“Balance” is a word Laird and Hughes use often to describe the science behind good cocktail-making. “Most of the time, cocktails made at home turn out to be too sweet. What we say is you want to mix a balance between sweet and savory and use fresh ingredients. I think the key there too is, if they start with fresh ingredients and juices, they are going to come out with a better cocktail,” says Laird.
“A little squeeze of citrus” is also something most people forget to add. “You can put some juices in there but if you don’t have fresh citrus, it just will be a flat cocktail,” Laird says. “You know when you put in a little squeeze of lemon or lime into a dish, it wakes up all of the other ingredients,” he explains.
Laird and Hughes will also offer plenty of other tips and secrets to making a good cocktail, but in the meantime, why not start practicing now? Test out this this recipe courtesy of Canadian Mist.
MISThattan
3 oz. Canadian Mist
1 oz. vermouth
Pour Canadian Mist and vermouth over ice in cocktail shaker. Shake and pour through strainer into long-stemmed cocktail glass. Garnish with orange wedge and cherry.
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