One of the goals of Tessin Rinpoche is to develop a Theory of the Cocktail.  Some sort of unifying and guiding set of principles.  I expect to find these out as we go along.  I’ll try to keep track of the Theory on this page.

I do think people should drink Locally, Socially, and Seasonally.  I would even take LSS down to a micro level: drink what is appropriate to the temperature in the room, the humidity, the food you are eating (or not eating), and the company you are keeping.  This means one should not always drink the same thing.  I also know some things my theory isn’t: I am not overly focused on brands and I don’t care if a drink is “cool” or “what I should drink.”

While drinkers should not be asking “what should I drink?”, they should be asking “what are you having?”  Asking “what are you having” allows us to gain experiences with new flavors and combinations; how else can we know what we like?.  Don’t be afraid to pour out a bad idea – it’s just a drink.  Part of the fun in mixology instead of cooking is that the sunk cost is much lower.

We identified three elements of the Theory related to the fact that a cocktail should make one happy.  First and foremost, the drink should make people want to consume it for the flavor.  Next, it should enhance the atmosphere.  As a chaser, it should never inhibit people from attaining their goals.

At the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, I re-discovered that creation of new drinks is critical to the fun of mixology.  The reason not to care so much which drinks are cool, or whether one knows how to make every drink, is not because we are against the established cocktailian canon.  We rely on those drinks for inspiration, guidance, and safe bets at unknown bars.  Instead, being a mixologist is about creating something new that reflects time and place.  Cocktails thus made are acts of art: communicating about, connecting with, and ultimately altering the world around us.