Cocktails are great and all, but they’re a bit of a faff. And while there are plenty of things worse than getting stuck behind someone at the bar ordering five or six complex drinks when you just want a bottle from the fridge, I can’t currently think of any.
Draught cocktails may be the answer, but they’re often (quite literally) a little flat. Vodka brand Grey Goose thinks it has the best of both worlds by unveiling the world’s first sub-zero draught cocktail tap system.
It’s all housed in a transparent bar so you can see exactly what’s making your cocktail pop, be it a bit of N2 (nitrogen) for a rich and creamy Espresso Martini or a bit of CO2 (carbon dioxide) to carbonate The Sparkling Cosmo. Presumably you can consult your periodic table for other gases to add, but I wouldn’t recommend it: you’re a mixologist, not a chemist.
“One of the major challenges was to bring ambient temperature liquid (above 20 degrees) down to sub-zero temperatures using an on-demand system - allowing drinks be served instantly - rather than the necessity to pre-chill the liquid held in kegs for a period of 24–48 hours, which is a general requirement of other systems available on the market today.” explained Marc Plumridge, Bacardi’s European Programming Director.
If you’re thinking this is just the thing for your living room, you’re out of luck. Apparently it’ll be at a “variety of Live Victoriously events and bars” from this summer. Still, if this has made reach for the cocktail shakers, you could do worse than consult our list of the best vodkas you can buy before you start...