What’s shakin’ cocktail fans?
Welcome to episode 211 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast! This time around, we’re joined from across the pond by Iain McPherson (@thecocktailpanda). He’s the owner of the Edinburgh cocktail joint Panda & Sons, which was honored as a 2020 member of the World’s 50 Best Bars.
A lot of bars get recognized on this list for their exquisite service, lavish ingredients, whimsical concepts, and intoxicating atmospheres. But aside from checking all those boxes, Iain and his team are raising the stakes by exploring a high-tech rendition of an age-old booze modification technique. This “freeze-thaw” spirit jacking method, which is the focal point of our conversation, is called “switching” or “switch finishing,” and many of the world’s top mixologists are obsessing over this process the same way they did with milk clarification and fat washing a decade ago or more.