Iain McPherson of Panda & Sons is the bar world’s king of cool

Iain McPherson, the critically acclaimed mixologist of Panda & Sons, Hoot The Redeemer, Nauticus Bar and founder of The Brain Melting Society is pioneering a host of sub-zero techniques revolutionising how we look at freezing and flavour when it comes to cocktails.

McPherson, who opened his world-renowned Panda & Sons in 2013, first began delving into the world of freezing when he opened his second bar, Hoot The Redeemer. Initially studying ice cream at both Reading University and The Gelato University in Bologna, which he was hoping to incorporate into the bar, he realised the potential there was to explore freezing in the cocktail space.

Driven by the necessity to innovate for the cocktail space — rather than borrowing from the culinary world or relying on old techniques. he began experimenting and founded The Brain Melting Society, a cocktail laboratory with a focus on sub-zero experimentation and techniques.

Beginning with existing techniques of freeze concentration and freeze drying, he saw the benefits of freezing as a way to extract, preserve and store flavours — maintaining their natural freshness, sugars and acid — allowing for flavours usually lost during the cocktail making process to be used to their full potential.

Then came his first discovery: switching. Using directional freezing, McPherson would separate the alcohol from its water components and then switch it out with that of another spirit or alternative ingredient — bringing the concoction back to its original ABV.

This opened the door for a plethora of unexplored possibilities, allowing for the mimicking of finishes, the addition of textures and the further infusion for flavour.

A whisky for instance could be switched with the water from sherry, creating something reminiscent of a cask finish, while a mezcal could be used to impart a smokiness, different to that of peat.

Likewise, coconut milk could be switched with rum to impart it with not only a coconut taste but also a smooth creamy texture, while clarified grapefruit enhances the citrus botanicals of a gin — all without diminishing the alcohol itself.

His latest breakthrough is called “sous pression” — his research resulting in this exciting new technique which offers an alternative to the chamber vacuum and/or hot sous vide process.

Here he harnesses the power and pressure of freezing in stainless steel kegs to extract the flavour from the selected produce into a fusion with the other ingredients.

The freezing suspends all the flavour molecules, so once thawed they all combine together for an integrated and intense marriage of fresh flavours — creating a finished product that is silky and seamless, similar to that achieved from the process of sous vide. 

An example of this is Panda & Sons’s “Sability” cocktail. A twist on the Martinez, all the ingredients for the cocktail including sable grapes, gin, vermouth, sherry, and maraschino liqueur are batched into a stainless-steel keg, frozen and then defrosted. The resulting cocktail is seamless and smooth, integrating the fresh and vibrant flavours of the grape with the alcohol.

On the back of this latest development, McPherson has launched his latest menu at Panda & Sons. Called “Transcend” it is broken into four chapters, each celebrating a freezing technique. Cryo-Concentration and Freeze Drying and his own discoveries Switching and Sous-Pression — each chapter featuring a host of cocktails championing these processes.

McPherson is not one to keep his secrets to himself, on the contrary he is intent on sharing these new techniques with the rest of the bar world. A recent trip to Cape Town saw him hosting a masterclass on his new techniques for our local bartenders and hosting a guest shift at the acclaimed Cause & Effect Bar — who will hopefully be experimenting with sous pression now too

Find out more at pandaandsons.com