Innovating on the internet in the age of ‘grammable food and drink is a dastardly challenge but one drinking hole has taken science and our love for alcohol and with it, obliterated all other measly cocktail competition.
Brisbane bar Viscosity is entering its ninth year as a family-run business, and its fourth as an experimental cocktail bar. While some would try to spin you a story of heartfelt family efforts, coming together and making it work, this tale has an extra ingredient: science.
The bar’s calling card is its weird and beautiful cocktails and shooters, which look like they’ve been beamed up from a Star Trek set.
A happy Halloween marriage of science and alcohol? Yes please.
Image: viscosity
Pairing a background in mixology and a dash of knowledge around chemical reactions, bar owner Kinsey Johnson warned that these beverages are definitely not for amateurs to attempt.
He told Mashable: “There is special training needed to present these photogenic drinks consistently. Mixology is challenging and rewarding and it’s the curiosity of the unknown that keeps me motivated.”
The Hadron Collider
Johnson says his favourite part of the job can be split into two categories. “My favourite part would definitely be the moment of discovery of a new animated shooter and the look of excitement on the customer’s face.”
Haunted Shooter
There have been a few monumental accidents along the way, but Johnson brushed them off, saying that such accidents were a conduit for discovery. “There is a abundance of problems when experimenting, but it’s the best way of discovering new ideas, best example would be the fusion shooter,” he said.
The Nuclear Fusion Shooter
Not all of the drinks on offer at Viscosity are shooters or cocktails. For anyone baffled or perturbed by excess science in your drink, you could always settle down for a glass of champagne with a Zen garden in it.
Zen Garden
Their 2016 Halloween specials were spooky AF, and a touch hilarious with an homage to the Titanic in there too.
Here’s hoping that Christmas and the holiday season will bring some tantalizing, weird and delicious festive refreshments.
When asked to pick a hero amongst the liquid science smorgasbord, Johnson told Mashable that his hands down favourite — to make and drink — is called the shark bite.
Because nothing beats “playing with liquid nitrogen and drinking the coldest cocktail possible.”
Two please!
Image: VISCOSITY
BONUS: Meet the robotic bartender
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