2022-Present
To close this chapter, I wanted to create something that represented my transformation journey. As I grow and evolve as a person, so do my cocktail creations. I began by simply mixing ingredients straight from the bottle, but now my approach has evolved into crafting cocktails with an emphasis on providing a unique experience for those who savor them.

The concept of The Alchemy is to create a simple and basic clarified drink, crowned with what I call “The flavor of life” spheres in a hand crafted sugar bowl to make it more fun and exciting. Before this breakup, I lived a very ordinary life, but now I get to live an exciting and unexpected life that the old me could never have imagined. I truly believe breakups can be the best thing that can happen for us; it just means something better is out there waiting for you. Whether it’s a person or a new journey, cheers to living your best life.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Recipe: This was 1.5 weeks of intense R&D, but I still think there are areas I would like to perfect. I spent a long time debating with myself whether to create the picture-perfect version with just a single sphere or opt for tiny multi color spheres, which are easier to digest and provide a better overall experience.

Recipe

Base:
Clarified mix 2oz
Soda 1oz
Add clear ice

Clarified mix 2-3 servings
- Bar Hill Gin 3oz
- Simple syrup 1oz
- Chocolate Liqueur 1oz
- Yuzu Extra 0.5oz
- Pour over 2oz of milk and let it curdle (it should be ready to start the filtering in less than 1 hour)

Sugar bowl:
- Sugar 100g
- Glucose 66g
- Water 25ml
Boil till 150c (hard crack stage) then remove from heat add butterfly pea extract for the color
The pour over your preferred mold. I just use lemon since the shape is determine how you mold them through hand, the lemon is just a rough idea on the size of your bowl. It will be hot but you gotta work quick to mold it into the shape you want before it hardens.

Spheres: I recommend to get high precision scale, every 0.1g matters and there’s many factors that can affect the consistency of your base before you start the spherification process. I’ve explored both direct and reverse spherification. For simplicity sake, we are only using direct spherification, but if you are adventurous, you should try reverse spherification for citrus spheres.

Prep the 1% Calcium Chloride bath. 500g water + 5g calcium chloride

The color of the sphere didn’t translate well on camera due to my stupid lighting setup
Teal:
- Shiso paste water 2oz
- Blue curacao 0.2oz
- 1% of sodium alginate
Purple:
- Lavender syrup 1oz
- Lavender bitters 0.3oz
- Empress Gin 0.7oz
- 0.5% of sodium alginate
Pink
- Chocolate Liqueur 1oz
- Earl Grey Bitters 0.2oz
- Dragon fruit powder 0.8oz
- 1% of sodium alginate
Drip each color in separate calcium chloride cups, then wash with water
Assemble, once you put all caviars together sprinkle some yuzu powder for the acidity kick. Top with an edible gold as a final touch.