Last month, I was invited to attend Junior merino’s cocktail lab in new york. What an experience! The hungriest child in the biggest candy store could not possible have felt the glee I experienced upon entering junior’s riverdale office. Shelf after shelf was lined bottles of standard, exotic and homemade cocktail ingredients. There were the usual suspects present: club liquors (hypnotic and the like), and your absolut vodkas and such, but then the selection became more obscure until finally my eyes settled on bottles i knew i’d never seen before. And that was junior’s private collection of spirits unavailable for purchase in the united states, which he generously allowed us to sample. One of the highlights of the day for me personally was that I finally got to taste the new Crème Yvette, from the makers of the famed St. Germain. The verdict: it was good, especially in comparison to the slew of recently revived violet liqueurs out there. But it was no st. germain!

We started off the lab with a blind tasting of the event sponsors and their competition, of which we had several throughout the course of the intensely packed day. The sponsors were combier (an exquisitely delicious alternative to Cointreau, distilled right down the street, and the original orange liqueur as it turns out), Canton Ginger Liqueur (another of my favorite liqueurs on this earth), Castries Peanut Rum Liqueur (a tasty and interesting alternative to Bailey’s, it does contain condensed milk. Since it’s made in st. lucia, however, at least the dairy is rBGH.3–free), Russian Standard Vodka and Russian Platinum Vodka (very smooth and certainly worth a try if you get the chance), Siembra Azul Tequilas (which ranged from light and fruity to rich and oaky), and Gvine Gin (a nice, easy to drink, refreshing spirit made from juniper and ugni blanc grapes).

We were then presented with a breakfast cocktail consisting of cornflakes, bananas, Castries, maple syrup and kahlua. it made for a rather tasty and wholesome (wink wink) way to start the day.

Breakfast segwayed into the fun part: creating cocktails! We were all instructed to come up with 8 different cocktails, recording the ingredients and proportions for the intent of duplication. We were then to sample each other’s masterpieces and try not to get wasted. If any of us were actually intoxicated, then it was surely from overwhelming indecision. The quandary: How to choose a few select ingredients from hundreds of ridiculously interesting options? Not an easy decision to make! But the troopers we were–somehow we managed to pull it off…

I myself stood frozen by the prospect of 12 different flower waters. I finally settled on the obscure nettle flower water, and left the orange flower water, rose flower water, banana flower water, violet flower water, lavender flower water, chamomile flower water, cinnamon flower water and vine flower water on the shelf. Wow. If you’ve read my blog at any length you’ll know how partial I am to floral libations.

For my next cocktail I chose from tray after tray of fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables. The selection ranged from pear cactus to key limes to purple tomatoes to star fruit to watercress to corn. The list was endless and I somehow narrowed it down the lychee nut, which I’d never seen outside of a can. Next, I chose what is called a Sechuan button, and isn’t yet available to the general public in the USA. Junior likened its taste to a putting your tongue on a battery, and he wasn’t far off. While this Chinese import sounded dubious, I used it anyway and created one of my most fabulous cocktails of the day.

Thankfully, lunch arrived and we were given the chance to soak up some of that alcohol. Which was funny, because as it turned out, lunch was actually soaked in alcohol. Junior (gemini) and his lovely wife and partner Heidi (virgo), had graciously taken the opportunity to dazzle us with their culinary expertise. Plate after plate of gourmet concoctions were presented to us, each containing at least one liquor. For example, the shrimp lobster salad was made with St. Germain, Russian Standard Vodka, wood honey and passion fruit. I don’t eat fish, but from the looks on the faces around me it was apparently to die for.

Towards the end of the day Junior led a demonstration on molecular mixology. He started with cocktail caviar (a calcium solution with algae, tonic water, citrus and pomegranate). This was great because not only as it was vegan, but it looked astoundingly similar to real caviar! Keep in mind that agar agar, alginate, kappa and algae all provide viable non-animal alternatives to gelatin. Junior went on to show us how to make liquid nitrogen cocktails, which end up being kind of slushy-like. If you over do the nitrogen, however, then you get space food cocktails (sort of freeze-dried margarita lumps if you will). There was a cotton candy machine I would have loved to test out, but unfortunately we didn’t have the powdered alcohol it required at the moment. Alcoholic cotton candy–now this was a good use of that strange powered alcohol only available in Europe! Up until now, I had cared less that we couldn’t get it over here. Who knew that you could just add some sugar and voila–alcoholic cotton candy! Lastly, I explored the fruits of the food hydrator… dried star fruit, apples, and oranges to be exact. All of which would add a decidedly sophisticated element to any cocktail as garnish.

I knew Junior from my days as a mixologist for CocktailTimes.com. He has always been kind, energetic, optimistic and informed. But what I didn’t know about Junior, is that he has a travelling bartending school in Mexico in the form of an 18 wheeler bus! The vehicle has 20 seats and a full bar. Now that is too cool for school.

I was aware of Junior’s line of cockail ingredients, but I didn’t know that they were available to industry only. If you own a bar or restaurant you need to investigate The Liquid Chef line, ranging from muddlers to foams to syrups. Each product is well thought out and of the highest quality. We were lucky enough to get some of them in the giant gift bag we walked away with : ) Contact junior for more info.

Thanks to Junior, Heidi, and all the sponsoring brands for allowing me this unparalled libational opportunity… cheers! If you are interested in being considered for a spot at these sessions, please call 646.418.0655 or email heidi@theliquidchefinc.com.