Proving cocktails are still very much ‘in’, Liquid Chefs are the masters at creating mind boggling concoctions for A-list parties, from Cannes to Hollywood, that are attended by the likes of Rihanna, Branson and Mark Zuckerberg. We caught up with the company’s founder Adam Soloman to discover how it started, and some recipes we could use to impress.
How did you come up with the concept for Liquid Chefs?
Four of my school friends got together in 2003 and did a wedding in South Africa in return for business cards, and since then the company has gone from strength to strength. We launched into the UK in 2008. Liquid Chefs (www.liquidchefs.co.uk), has now become the hottest premium mobile bar service, that has kick-started a liquid revolution.
We provide tailor made solutions to any kind of party or entertainment and the team has gone on to serve more than one million cocktails, at over 5,000 events in locations all over the globe, including London, Cape Town, Amsterdam and even Antarctica.
What’s completely different about us is that we take a totally unique view to this industry. My business partner Deon Linde is a molecular scientist by background, and we came together to combine our practical knowledge of the bar industry and chemical background.
When we are booked by clients, as a ‘Liquid Lab’ we work together to develop truly unique, mad drinks ideas for our clients. We also host get-togethers, to try out our creations before events, for all the high flyers at World Economic Forum in Davos, private events for huge corporations such as Google and Deutche Bank and after-parties in Cannes as well as private events in people’s homes, weddings, barmitzvah’s etc.
Have you started a trend?
We started actually from the style of our offer – we wanted the company to be vibrant and funky, that takes the concept of the portable cocktail bar and bar services and turned it on its head – we literally shook the whole scene up. Our barmen are put through their paces during an intensive training course at the company’s Liquid Lab, where the emphasis is as much on learning how it is to mix molecular creations and jaw stopping cocktails as it is to learn how to interact with guests, which have included world leaders, with Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson to name a few.
Because we are working with extremely demanding customers, we have developed ground breaking molecular cocktail ideas that no one has seen before. Here are some examples:
* Cocktail Caviar – which has been used as garnishes in drinks (this is coloured bubbles of fruit purée which are made using a pipette to drop into a solution, which turns them into a ‘ball’ that is dropped into cocktails before bursting in the mouth)
* Cocktail Sushi Vanilla vodka infused rice served with a Chambord jelly sliced thinly
* Smoked whiskey – we utilise a smoking gun (same type of tool that is used to smoke salmon) combined with a herbal tea which is smoked to infuse the flavour of the whiskey
* Cocktail Spaghetti – we use a gelling agent and mix it with either a cocktail or mocktail to create an alcoholic beverage that will set hard. We then use a syringe to pour the liquid into a thin rubber pipe that we then let set for ten minutes. This creates the effect of long thin spaghetti like piece of alcohol jelly
* Woodland Tinture our mixologists have created a woodland infusion which we atomise on top of a martini to create a spectacular effect, which we display at special events
* Vacuum infusion – we suck all the air out of a cucumber using a vacuum, and then introduce a martini straight after the vacuum. All the open pockets within the cucumber fill up with gin creating a translucent piece of cucumber that tastes like a martini.
What service do you offer your clients?
We can provide the right service for any event a client requires. From London to Antarctica, from an intimate wedding to a conference for 10,000 people, we have the skills and experience to deliver the ultimate cocktail service.
Finally which special events have you recently served these legendary drinks at?
We’ve been at a number of great parties recently, and will be appearing at even more across the summer and leading up to the Christmas season. Some of the parties we’ve been at include the Mckinsey NightCap Cocktail Party In Davos Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, the Sean Parker Party in Davos Switzerland for the World Economic Forum and the Google Zeitgeist Conference.
We were also present at the River Island Clothing Launch alongside Rihanna, the 1600 guest Adobe Summit Party with Jessie J, the Skyfall Premier in Zurich and the Cannes Lions Festival with You Tube.
