One recent night, I walked into Booker and Dax, the cocktail bar of the Momofuku empire, to find a serious discussion underway between a co-owner, Dave Arnold, and a bartender named Austin. They were trying to figure out why their latest experiment, a variation on a Campari and soda, changed character so drastically after aging for a day. What was intensifying the bitterness? Time? Acidity? A component in the liqueur?

I felt as if I’d walked into a chemistry seminar. But this is a pretty common sort of conversation at Booker and Dax, arguably the center of what might be called the mad-scientist school of bartending in the United States. I’ll admit that I was skeptical the first time I visited, about two years ago, not being much of a fussy sort myself. But I was instantly won over: All of that seriousness of purpose, the science and the craftsmanship, make for drinks that are not only delicious but also great fun.

Unsurprisingly, all the people featured here have backgrounds in the arts: Arnold was, once upon a time, a sculptor. Todd Maul is a formally trained furniture maker. Gabriella Mlynarczyk worked in fashion design, and Jamie Boudreau studied theater before switching to the sciences.