Liquid Lab with Junior Merino – an Enlightening Experience

Junior Merino

GN Bannerman here.  Sometimes the universe comes together in a perfect way, which it did for me recently when I was invited to attend one of Junior Merino’s Liquid Labs in Riverdale, NY.   Many people might not be familiar with Junior, but I can assure you that he’s one to watch. In the four years since he started The Liquid Chef, he’s garnered contracts with both Celebrity Cruises and Disney, designing drinks menus, providing infused syrups  and rimming salts, and achieving the high honor of being the only mixologist with his name on his own menu at Walt Disney World.  Junior’s magic comes from his experience working in his family’s restaurant, and from his interest in bringing  the culinary flavors of indigenous sections of the Americas (he’s proudly Mexican-American with dual citizenship) into the bar, using techniques such as sous-vide and CO2 freezing. Therefore it was an honor to be invited to take an all-day course with a select group in Junior’s spirit-laden lair, an experience that normally costs $2300.

Junior’s class was very hands-on.  It included 5 flights of different spirits originating from Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America. The small group of ten people had a chance to taste and compare 5 representative tastes each of rum, cachaca, tequila, pisco, and mescal; after each tasting session, we were then allowed to experiment making cocktails with a dizzying variety of mixers, bitters, and flavorings, including items such as Junior’s own Dainzu hibiscus and Buddha’s hand syrups, red shizo, carrots, leatherwood honey, and tomatillos. We also used various mixing techniques, including freezing cocktails with liquid nitrogen to make them into the softest sorbet you’ve ever tasted. Every person made notes on the tastings, the ingredients and measurements for their concoctions, and provided everyone there with a chance to taste each other’s creations. Critiques were made, flavorings were adjusted, and everyone learned about ingredients that could complement the various spirits.

What makes the Liquid Lab so special is that Junior has accumulated a collection of over 3000 different spirits, including ones that are impossible to buy in the US. His lab is essentially a taste library of spirits and the things that can be put in them. For instance, if someone had told me that Pitu was not the only available pisco out there, and that La Diablada makes one that is superb, I wouldn’t have known it- but I know it now.  Likewise, while I’d heard of Leblon cachaca I’d never tasted it before. After my experience on Sunday, I’ll be asking for it by name in bars, and I can’t wait to get a hold of my own bottle so I can make mojitos and other drinks at home. Nor will I shy away from using a wider variety of herbs, fruits and vegetables in my drink recipes. Junior’s workshop made me shed many of my preconceived notions of what a cocktail could be, especially when he had his team bring out refreshments that included a pisco sour marshmallow and a gummy rose-colored candy made with cachaca.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of my recipes from Junior’s Liquid Lab, and it should give you some idea as to what he’s up to.  But there’s one last thing I have to tell you. Not only is Junior a genius whose work is not only beautiful but accessible; he and his wife Heidi were so giving of themselves that it beggars the imagination. If you ever have a chance to take any kind of workshop with Junior, or can scrape up the money for his Liquid Lab, do it. The experience will be mind-altering, and change the way you see both food and spirits.