I’D sworn off molecular mixologists cooking up cocktails in custom-built labs ever since Bump Caves bar in London’s Borough. Here in the shadow of Tower Bridge the barman unleashed his latest creation upon us – the #EKAAT in homage to Tom Wolfe’s classic Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. This signature cocktail combined bump malt, Campari and sparkling Piquepoul. With it came a bag of white powder (citric acid) to add at your discretion and a 9v battery to lick. Yes, it was Yowp!
This was all concocted in their in-house lab complete with centrifuge and infusers. It all comes back to me as Rory Bourke, head bartender at Cane and Grain shows us their techie equipment in the absence of The Sorcerer, Massimo Zitti, on holiday in Canada (A Maple Syrup and Spruce Sap Old-Fashioned, you Mounties?)
Rory is happy to dub himself the Sorcerer’s Apprentice as he introduces us to the new cocktail list at the bar’s first floor speakeasy, rechristened Science + Industry. “An Imbibing Approach to the Unknown” has been devised in conjunction with scientists at Manchester University. It all looks a mite Heath Robinson to me as he explains how to make the ‘Apprentice Manhattan’, his major contribution, it seems, on a list that also boasts a ’Dry Iced Zombie’, ‘A Stop The Suffering’ and, my fave, a Negroni Ristoretto featuring a Negroni Reduction (“an extraction of abv from a blend of Mr Black cold brew coffee liquor, Star of Bombay dry gin, Campari and Coccho Teatro”). Serve with ice and an Orange Mist, which is an “edible perfume created by the extraction of orange zests with neutral grain spirit”. I loved it.
But back to the evolution of that Woodford Reserve and cherry brandy based Manhattan. Rory says: “The trick is timing. You want to burn the sugar and rum long enough that it burns off the alcohol and just leaves a bitter sweet sticky syrup but you don't want the flames to extinguish. That's what really makes the difference. Burn it too long and the drink tastes burnt and if you don't burn it long enough the drink tastes overly boozy, it's really unpleasant.”
For my companion he got it just right – the hit of the tasting. In truth, the final pleasure is what it’s all about. Whether it’s a canny shake and assembly in a tumbler or the sub-Heston Blumenthal action backstage at Science + Industry involving liquid nitorgen, naturally, a Rotavapour for distilling liquors,CO2 canisters for making dry ice and a vast library of botanicals at the ready.
A subtle upgrade with new wallpaper and upholstery have made the bar even cosier. The low-key blues and jazz soundtrack fits the place like a glove and you don’t have to have a chemistry A-Level to tackle the combo of rum, falernum citrus, rosehip and passion syrup that makes up a Dry Iced Zombie. Just a sense of cocktail adventure.
Science + Industry, Cane and Grain, 49-51 Thomas Street, Manchester, M4 INA. 0161 839 7033. Open daily from 6pm. Cocktails mostly £9.