You know how a plastic bottle
will get all bulky when frozen? Or how the freezing water can
burst pipes in the winter? That’s the pressure of ice expanding, and it
can be used to make your cocktails better. Hi, Friends of Cocktails. Today I’ll show you
another cool and innovative cocktail technique. And when I say cool, I mean we’ll literally be
freezing a cocktail to add a new flavor to it. The technique is called Sous
Pression and we’ll talk about it with its creator, Iain McPherson. But
in short, the power of expanding ice will help us to leach out flavors from an
ingredient and change the cocktails we’re making. Think of it as an alternative to Sous Vide.
We’ll make two cocktails with this technique, first, Sability. One of many signature cocktails
from McPherson’s bar, Panda&Sons, then we’ll make a Manhattan to see
what happens to it, for the fun of it. If you’re ready to learn something
new, let’s start - It’s Cocktail Time. I again came across this technique from a
PunchDrink.com article back in February, titled ”Forget Sous Vide, Sous Pression
Is the Key to Better Cocktails”. This time I contacted the
bartender directly and he’s the nicest guy ever. A real panda, if you will.
On Instagram you’ll find Iain McPherson under @thecocktailpanda handle. In real life he’s on
the move between his lab and a number of his bars. His bio says he’s a “cocktail & Freezing
techniques nerd”, but he’s also been called "the Willy Wonka of the drinks world".
He offered all the information and help I could ask for, including doing
a quick drop-in for this episode. He even sent us a copy of their
new cocktail menu at Panda&Sons. It’s titled Transcend and it’s dedicated to
freezing techniques, with the latest one being the Sous Pression. We might try out some
of the other techniques carefully developed by Iain and his team in future episodes.
The menu has already been nominated for some awards this year and if you’re ever in Edinburgh
you should really go check out Panda&Sons. But let’s focus on this latest innovation in the
cocktail world. Assuming you have a freezer for your ice you’ll really need just one more thing.
Something that can withstand the pressure of expanding liquid inside it. I’ll be using a small
2 liter keg and my trusted isi cream whipper. On amazon you can get a small 64oz
Mini Keg Growler for as low as $25. I’ll leave a link to these in the description.
Once we fill these to the brim with the cocktails, we’ll place both in a freezer for long
enough to freeze all the way through. So make sure you’re not using
something that’s double wall insulated. The key here is to make sure we know exact the
total volume, so that when we add the cocktail, and in this case, sliced grapes for the infusion,
we really don’t leave any space for the cocktail to expand when it freezes. That way all that
force will go inwards and it will have nowhere to go but inside of our fruit, similar to
what would happen with a rapid infusion or in a vacuum chamber. Once it’s completely
frozen we’ll take it out of the freezer, let it thaw out and all the components will fuse
together, creating a smoother and seamless flavor. You can use any fresh fruit or
herbs to infuse the cocktail, or even infuse only a certain ingredient. Just know that you really need to make as
much of it as it will fit in the container. Iain also found out that even
if you freeze just the cocktail, it will round out the alcohol and change
the acidity, resulting in a smoother finish. We’ll test this theory out
with our smaller container. But let’s hear about Sous Pression and the
cocktail we’ll make today from the man himself. Iain, welcome to Cocktail Time.
- Thanks Kevin. So, Sous Pression is just like how I've been kind of formulating
our other freezing techniques. You know, I looked a long time at freezing
and like the freezing force, so when you freeze a liquid it expands,
it generates a lot of PSI. By preventing it from expanding
we can then bring the force inward, to help infuse the flavors
and also by freezing it solidly you separate the flavor molecules
and then the defrosting process works like the sous-vide bath
where then all the flavors kind of combine together as one,
so you get a really nice seamless, silky flavor. Great thing about sous pression
is you can use your kind of normal commercial freezer and in some cases
your freezer at home. We combine all the cocktails
and sometimes if the ABV is still too high you can also pre-dilute.
And the great thing about adding your whole cocktail into the keg,
to do this whole process is the cocktail is ready to go, so you can make it
as a one pour. For me as much as I've created
sous pression there's so much more that can be done. I've really
done so many cocktails with sous pression, any bartender, bar or home enthusiast
can be the first one doing a sous pression version original cocktail or a classic,
so I find that very exciting. Thanks for hosting this episode, Kevin,
and I hope more people will love this technique as much as I do
and you know again if there's any questions I'm always around as well.
It’s really my pleasure to offer this small platform to showcase innovative
techniques and influential people that push the mixology community in the right
direction. Iain and his team at Panda&Sons are doing that with the right attitude.
Now it’s time to start the process of making the Sability cocktail from their Transcend
menu using the Sous Pression technique. This is the first cocktail in the Sous Pression
section of the Transcend menu, and with gin, sherry, vermouth, and maraschino liqueur
you could say it’s a riff on the Martinez. Sable grapes are the fresh ingredient
that will give out its flavor under pressure of the ice and the enclosed chamber.
For that to happen we first have to measure the exact volume of our keg. The easiest way is to
place it on a scale and fill it to the top with water. Using grams and milliliters it’s easy to
see that my keg has the volume of 2 liters. I’ll add 100 ml, just to be safe, but also to have a
sample that I can compare the end result with. I’ll then use this number to calculate the
total amount of the ingredients I need for the batched Sability to completely fill the keg.
I know the single serve ratio is 45 ml gin, 25 ml vermouth, 20 ml sherry, and 2,5 ml maraschino. Each serve also gets 17,5 grams of sable grapes. To this I’m also adding 20% of dilution, which
is 18,5 ml. That will make it possible for our cocktail to freeze in a standard freezer. That
gives us a total volume of 128 ml. So if we divide the total volume of our keg with the total volume
of the cocktail we get the number we’ll multiply each ingredient with. For me that’s 16,4. So I’m
starting with 738 ml of Citadelle Jardin d'ete. Not the same as in the original, but still
a wonderful, refreshing, citrus-forward gin. Follow that with 410 mL of
Lustau Blancao Vermut. Blanco vermouths typically sit somewhere
between dry and sweet vermouths. Next, another grape-based ingredient, Fino
sherry - 328 mL. Fino, which means 'thin' or 'delicate' in Spanish, is the driest
of the traditional varieties of sherry. And the smallest amount, 41 mL of Maraschino
Liqueur. Metric measurements are just easier for these specific quantities so I hope
you don’t mind the omission of ounces. And the key ingredients for this recipe - Sable
grapes. Already measured out 287 g that are needed for the total volume. Add the grapes into the
keg first, then pour in our batched cocktail. But first for dilution we’ll add 20% of the
total liquid. Here that represents 303 mL of water. That should give us the total
alcohol by volume at 23%, or 46 proof, meaning it should freeze at -14,4 °C or 6 °F.
With the keg now totally full, close the lid and place in the freezer. At Panda&Sons 24 hours
is enough, I’m going with 48 h, just to be sure. But as mentioned we’ll also try another
batch, this time just with the cocktail, to see how the sous pression affects
the taste and mouthfeel of a classic. And since we already covered
nearly 140 years of its history, it’s only fitting to put the Manhattan under
a little pressure. Let’s start measuring. I’m using the specs for the total amount
of a chilled and diluted Manhattan from Dave Arnold’s Liquid Intelligence.
It shows a total volume of just over 132 mL and an ABV of 24,6% meaning it should freeze
at about -15,5 °C. That’s 50 proof and 4°F, so we should be good with our freezers at home.
I also measured the volume of my cream whipper, 720 ml, and I’ll divide that with the total
volume of a single serve. That let’s me know I could fit 5.42 Manhattans into this siphon.
Use that number to multiply each of the ingredients, starting with the base spirit. For
me that will be 326 ml of Maker’s Mark Bourbon. Next, sweet vermouth, half the amount of bourbon.
So 163 ml of 9diDante Inferno vermouth. And what would be 2 dashes of Angostura
Aromatic bitters, will here be 9 mL. That’s based on Dave Arnold’s measurements
for 2 dashes. Lastly, to make sure the ABV level isn’t too high, dilution. Based on the book I’m adding
45% of the total volume of the other 3 ingredients, which is 222 mL. Stir to mix then pour into the cream
whipper. Close it tight, this time without adding a cartridge and place it next to the keg. I’ll leave
them in the freezer for the same amount of time. As we wait you have the perfect opportunity
to do all the things YouTube looks at, before it shows this video to more people,
Subscribe, like, share, you know the drill.. And just like that, 48 hours have passed
and we can take out our frozen cocktails. So after we’re sure it’s frozen solid through
we’ll also have to give this enough time to fully thaw out. Until that point this is still
under a lot of pressure. Don’t be surprised if the immense force actually expanded the keg
slightly. Test this when you’ll make the second batch by again measuring the total volume and
expect it to be a bit bigger than the first time. I left this to sit for 24 hours, giving
it extra time to infuse. That way you can also be completely sure the
contents have liquified again. Then open and strain out the cocktail,
keeping the grapes for the garnish. Something you might notice after a few batches
is that the color isn’t always the same, for reasons unknown. It might be the amount of
time you leave it to thaw out and infuse. For Manhattan you can just pour
it straight into a labeled bottle. Since dilution is already added, keep
the bottles in the fridge until you’re ready to serve these cocktails.
And I don’t know about you, but after this long process, I can’t wait to take
a sip of these two. I’ll make them side by side. Both will be served in chilled coupe
glasses, which are in the freezer. I had to dilute the Manhattan fully,
to bring the ABV low enough so it could freeze. The Sability was a lower ABV to
begin with so we didn’t add so much dilution, meaning we can give it a quick stir
with ice now, to chill it even further. I added 3 oz, or 90 ml of this
sous pressured cocktail. For For Manhattan it’s even easier - just pour
the cocktail into a chilled coupe glass to the wash line and move on the garnishes.
Sable grapes from the keg are of course the only sensible garnish for the Sability.
They’re an amazing boozy snack as well. For Manhattan I’m of course adding the
classic cherry. If you’re thinking you could add cherries into the sous pression, you’re
right - it’s already on the Transcend menu. But here we want to see what sous pression
does just to the cocktail, as well as try the masterpiece from Iain McPherson.
So let’s start with Sability. You get grapes and varietal aromas. It’s really
wonderfully smooth and balanced, with a pleasant citrus undertone from the gin. Sable
grapes also give it a subtle floral aftertaste, which is just lovely. Well worth the wait.
The Manhattan brings exactly what you’d expect, from the aroma to the palate. All the flavors are
wonderfully balanced and maybe slightly rounded, but if you want the full benefit of
Sous Pression always add an ingredient that ice can force the most out of.
It was a ton of fun for me to try this and I’m always inspired by incredible bartenders
trying to push the boundaries of what’s possible. If you know of any other interesting
techniques you’d like to see me try, let me know in the comments below.
Until next week, cheers, Friends of Cocktails!
