21st Century Cocktails
Paul Westerkamp’s Passionate Take on Molecular Mixology

Critics call it a fad of limited life. Proponents rightly consider it simply a different methodological perspective, delivering flavor and new cocktail profiles.

Molecular mixology’s primary benefit is in the flavor of cocktails. It doesn’t hurt that the practice also can produce cocktails that smoke, fizz, and change matter, adding to the experience. Despite criticism by a minority claiming it’s all show, molecular mixology is excitingly legit.

Blinding Them With Science

Molecular gastronomy and mixology are still going strong at STIX Restaurant and Lounge and 33 Restaurant & Lounge in Boston’s Back Bay, where patrons unwind with the 10 Cane Raspberry Sashimi, served in a bento box and eaten with chopsticks, or a Bacardi Mojito Fizz carbonated right before their eyes in a PET bottle with 70 pounds of CO2.

Beverage Director Paul Westerkamp, a seasoned sommelier and mixologist who has created cocktail menus at both, employs tools and devices and an array of items that look more at home in a chemistry class than in a bar. With these tools and a deep understanding of spirits and wine at his disposal, he has transformed the way STIX and 33 do cocktails.

“Molecular Mixology is about changing the texture, density or viscosity of alcohol through the practical application of science and physics to create a new taste experience, while having fun,” Westerkamp says.

Case in point: When Westerkamp pours a round of smoking shots to a group of patrons, the specially made shot glasses, with a chamber for dry ice, draw quite a crowd as the white smoke billows and pours around the edges of the shot glasses. Or how about Champagne cocktails complete with Cointreau Caviar floating on top, or that 10 Cane Rum Bento Box with raspberry-flavored Rum Bites that resemble tuna sashimi, and fizzing drinks fueled with CO2?

Recently Westerkamp trained on a molecular mixology kit that only 12 establishments in the country have received. With this exclusive training and no lack of imagination, the possibilities for new exciting cocktails are endless for Westerkamp.

“I’m a food and wine person,” he says. “It’s all about savoring. Taking that one step further, you’re trying to get your customer to stay there, have fun and be excited. It’s quite boring to go somewhere and just see a bunch of Martinis.”

Lab Results

Westerkamp offers an accessible demonstration of the end result of successful molecular mixology.
“This past winter I created a drink with a Woodford Reserve,” he says. “We infused it with a little more vanilla, because they use American Oak in that. So you have a base layer of infused bourbon and another layer using a commercial whipped cream canister with nitrous oxide, where you charge it and fill it with whipped cream.

Next on the list of ingredients is high-fat-content eggnog.

“It’s wintertime in New England; everyone is comfortable having eggnog that time of year,” Westerkamp says. “Then I took maple sugar and took a mortar and pestle and ground it into a powder and spread it on top. Then I took a blowtorch and broulee’d the top. Now you are using two forms of technology that you really wouldn’t have used in the ‘90s (to make drinks) — a blowtorch and a nitrous container to make whipped cream.”

Here’s how it all comes together for the ultimate wow: “Visualize a Martini glass,” Westerkamp says. “The liquid (bourbon at the bottom) is going to come first at you. It will work its way through the eggnog and whipped cream, and you take in some of those. Then, the caramelization of the sugar gets caught on your upper lip, and naturally now with your lower lip, you’ll reach up and scrape it off. You’re going to taste bourbon but finish sweet. You will experience the drink differently.” NCB