Todd DaSilva is a beverage director on the cutting edge of a national movement, edible cocktails. These cocktails don't involve tiny plastic cups that require scraping and sucking. Instead, Cosmopolitan cubes served on amuse bouche spoons, garnished with a maraschino cherry or chartreuse pyramids of margarita garnished with lime slivers and kosher salt. At the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch, DeSilva partnered with head pastry chef Martin Makatsu to creat a just-debuted line of gelatin cocktails, orders as a trio for about $8, which costs less than a traditional drink. This is part of a broader trend popular with nightclubs and catering companies on both costs, since 2005, serving cocktails in ways that are more complex, more engaging than the just liquids in glasses. By applying the science of moleculr gastronomy to bartending, mixologists work with liquid nitrogen, gelatins and foams, serving up pearls of Cointreau, fruity topping foams and spirits-infused cotton candy. DeSilva and Makatsu worked on their shooters for about four months before mastering the ratios of gelatin to mixes. The squisy little orbs smell strongl of alcohol, but only represent a quarter to half of a drink, depending on how big they are. Now they are experimenting with little bits of fruits, mini flowers, and micro mint leaves to creat suspensions, and they're working on layering different liquids to create stacks of opaque and translucent flavors.
I think this is a creative concept but this article is from June 2008 and the article says nightclubs and catering companies have been doing it since 2005. I have not seen an edible cocktail and have only heard about it once before this. I don't think this is as big as a trend as DeSilva had thought.
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I think this is an interesting idea but I have never seen it executed anywhere. This seems to not have taken off as Kristin has stated. People are use to the drinking a beverage it may be more engaging and complex but I don’t think people would like to go to a bar and get served gelatin. They state that this brings in a certain crowd however, what crowd is that? The idea is aimed toward experimental drinkers, but how long can experimental drinkers stay an experimental drinker? If they are aimed toward experimental drinkers they only experiment once and move on which makes it not a good market to aim your drink concept to. This is most absolutely a fad. It would be nice and exciting to try once but I can’t see this staying around for long or taking off in many causal chains or fine dining restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI also haven't seen it anywhere but I have heard more and more about it recently. I think these edible cocktails fall into the same type of category as the savory cocktails: trying to find a way to put a new spin on traditional drinks. As weird as I think this concept is, I think it would be even weirder and maybe less popular to individuals who are not involved or educated in food and beverage. I remember I had tried to explain somehting similar to this to my mother and she just did not understand the concept or the point. Regardless of that though, people are always excitted and intrigued to try new ideas. I know the article said the drinks cost about $8 a piece which is around the regular price for a drink. But then it said that although they smell strong, they are only really equivelant to about 1/2 of a drink. I don't know if you get more than one for the $8 but I found that a little confusing. I have a feeling however that the technology and education required to make these drinks is on the relatively expensive side. And that could easily explain why they have been slow to catch on.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is an up and coming trend. People are always looking for the new and innovative way to enjoy their time out. They want to be amazed and with gastronomy. Taking different things to make people use all their senses to consume something is now a trend. People like to be fooled and are now willing to try just about anything. The thing that I wonder about is doing this cost effective or is it all for show.
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