Mixing up a scientific taste sensation (Image: Staff Hood Gamma) Superdry Martini: 55 millilitres gin, 15 millilitres dry vermouth, 3 microlitres of tannin essence, shaken with ice then strained into a glass and garnished with a green olive. The secret here is to add 150 microlitres of tannin essence to the bottle of vermouth; tannins have a “mouth-puckering” effect that makes this martini super-dry. The essence is made by gently heating 1 kilogram of macerated grape seeds in a rotary evaporator, which distils off the tannins. The kilogram of grape seeds yields about 25 millilitres of tannin essence (Image: Staff Hood Gamma) Matured Manhattan: A normal Manhattan (whisky, sweet vermouth, bitters) laid down to age for four-and-a-half years to mellow the flavour; this technique is used to make wine and whisky, of course, but has never been applied to cocktails before (Image: Staff Hood Gamma) Somerset Sour: Apple brandy, lemon juice, sugar, egg white and a dash of cider, shaken with ice and strained into a glass then garnished with a bobbing apple and a “hay egg”. The clever bits here are the bobbing apple – a ball of pink lady apple infused with hay essence by extracting the juice under vacuum, adding a small amount of a food-grade essence of freshly cut hay, then reversing the vacuum to infuse the juice and essence into the flesh – and the hay egg, which is yet more hay essence encased in small sphere of gelatine: this bursts on contact with your mouth releasing an intense flavour. The overall idea is to evoke autumn (Image: Staff Hood Gamma)

IT WOULD be lovely to have …