BEAUTIFUL EXPLOSIONS: AVIARY COCKTAILS

The Aviary feels like it’s from a different place and time -- in the Jetson’s future. The cocktails are nerdy, sexy, chemical, pure, and full of fascinating science. They smoke, they explode, they shatter, they simmer, they shake, they steep, they wow.

Cocktails are presented, not only with accoutrements, but with tools, like balloons, slingshots, bunsen burners, and magical portholes, that help max out the total immersive experience.

While they are explosions in flavor, for sure, many Aviary cocktails also explode physically, like bombs, of sorts. Many employ all physical states: solids, liquids and gases, together. Most morph while you are drinking them, becoming something other than what you started with… and you become something else as you sip them.

The “Bring Another Smurf,”cocktail, for example, comes in funky glass pipe -- part bong, part laboratory pipette. A layer of white-coconut cordial is topped with a frozen lozenge of purple pea flower-infused mezcal. Just put your lips together and blow to mix the components. Then inhale. It’s a heady boozy fruity smokey head spinner.

The cocktail concept and recipe development is all led by Micah Melton. While he is has formal culinary training, Melton began his studies in computer science. He fuses his love of science and tech with his love for food and cocktails and injects it into everything he creates.

The “Science A.F.,” for example, is a hot cocktail which is made by heating ginger, lemon, and scotch together in a vacuum coffee chamber, then infusing it with blueberry meritage tea -- made per order tableside in a personal laboratory vessel.

Melton began his career as The Aviary’s (and the world’s) first “Ice Chef.” He created over 30 types of ice for the bar before leveraging his creativity and technical skill to create The Aviary’s cocktail experiences. Watch his cool ice-making video.

“In the Rocks,” a spin on an Old Fashioned cocktail, features one of Melton’s ice innovations -- it is encapsulated in a large hollow sphere of ice.

You have to smash it open with the supplied slingshot (yes, a slingshot), which explodes the ice ball, rendering shards to chill a shot of scotch that’s been gilded with crème-de-cassis granita and green Sichuan peppercorn. It comes with a Champagne chaser to celebrate your efforts. With all the drama fizz and smokiness, it’s meant to evoke fireworks.

A well-made gin and tonic is a beautiful simple joyful thing. But Melton  plays with it, of course and pushes it over-the-top. One version of The Aviary Gin & Tonic is made with yuzu. While another sheaths the glass with frozen cucumber. Still another turns it into an alcoholic bubble tea, with Junipero gin, yellow chartreuse, and little spheres of encapsulated cucumber alginate. And, yes, they make their own tonic water.

The Porthole is a vessel, designed and created for The Aviary, in which the create unique cocktail infusions, made to order for each guest. Currently on The Aviary NYC menu is “The Lovely Bunch” Porthole cocktail, an infusion of chai, french curry, tequila reposado, and banana.

The “How Does Snoop Dogg Use Lemongrass?” cocktail is grounded in vodka, then lifted with a stir of Peychaud’s and a mound ginger snow. The lemongrass is the swizzle that gives it some extra shizzle.

Achatz, who was named Best Chef in America, by the James Beard Foundation, after learning and honing his art at top culinary temples such as The French Laundry and elBulli, makes sure that the bar food at The Aviary is full of explosive extravagance too.  

Pop the little “Black Truffle Explosion” raviolo into your mouth, for example, then keep your lips sealed as you bite into it, so you can fully capture the explosion of intense truffle juice and joy.

The Aviary offers tasting menus, pairing flights of exotic cocktails with equally exotic small bites. Or you can order a la carte and create your own adventure. Check out a full menu here, although it constantly changes.

Since its opening, Alinea has been named the Best Restaurant in the World by Elite Traveler, the Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet Magazine, and has twice been awarded the Best Restaurant in North America by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Alinea holds 3 stars from the venerable Michelin Guide, held by only 14 restaurants in the United States, and 5 stars from Forbes Travel Guide.

Check out Achatz and Kokonas’ stories in the New York Times bestselling memoir “Life, on the Line,” as well as the nationally-released documentary movie, Spinning Plates, and Netflix’s documentary series, Chef’s Table.

Check out the forthcoming The Aviary Cocktail Book, with beautiful photos by Allen Hemberger and Sarah Hemberger. You can pre-order the book here.

Read more about Explosive Beauty all this week on BeautifulNow. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.

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1. Image: by Christian Seel. “The Thai Mountain” & “Midnight Mary #2.” Courtesy of The Aviary.
2. Image: by Steph Goralnick. “Loaded to the Gunwalls” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
3. Image: “Aviary Cocktail.” Courtesy of The Aviary.
4. Image: by Christian Seel. “The Italian Stallion.” Courtesy of The Aviary.
5. Image: by Steph Goralnick. “Bring Another Smurf” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
6. Image: “Micah Melton,” Beverage Director, The Alinea Group. Courtesy of The Alinea Group.
7. Image: by George Apostolidis. “Science A.F.” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
8. Image: by Steph Goralnick. Making ice encapsulated “In the Rocks” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
9. Image: “In the Rocks” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
10. Image: by Steph Goralnick. Making “In the Rocks” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
11. Image: by Christian Seel. “Gin & Tonic.” Courtesy of The Aviary.
12. Image: “Aviary Porthole Cocktail.” Courtesy of The Aviary.
13. Image: by Steph Goralnick. Making “How Does Snoop Dogg Use Lemongrass” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
14. Image: “Chef Grant Achatz.” Courtesy of The Alinea Group.
15. Image: by Dan Costin. “Black Truffle Explosion,” created by Grant Achatz for Alinea and The Aviary.
16. Image: by Christian Seel. Scallop, Citrus Aroma, Fourteen Textures. Dish created by Grant Achatz. Courtesy of Alinea.
17. Image: by Daniel Krieger. “Hop Scotch” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
18. Image: by Steph Goralnick. “How Does Snoop Dogg Use Lemongrass” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
19. Image: by Steph Goralnick. “Bring Another Smurf 2” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
20. Image: by Steph Goralnick. “Boom Goes the Dynamite” Cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.
21. Image: by Christian Seel. Flaming cocktail. Courtesy of The Aviary.