Master mixologist Tony Conigliaro reveals drinks secrets

Seated at 69 Colebrooke Row, his watering hole in north London otherwise known as "the bar with no name", Tony Conigliaro watches closely as a woman at a nearby table picks up the prairie oyster drink that has just been served to her.

Eyeing the white seashell filled with what appears to be an egg yolk floating on its pearly surface, she hesitates briefly before slurping it down in one gulp. Within seconds, her eyes widen in surprise as she savours a parade of flavours: horseradish vodka, a dash of pepper sauce, a sprinkling of shallots and a burst of gelatinous cherry tomato. "That is the most amazing thing ever," she says to her friends, giggling.

"I just love to see people's reactions when they experience it for the first time," Conigliaro says. "This is all about making beautiful things from pure ingredients, but mostly about creating pleasure."

Conigliaro, 42, and one of the world's most notable mixologists, is now sharing those "pleasures" in T he Cocktail Lab: Unravelling the Mysteries of Flavour and Aroma in Drink, With Recipes.

The book, published by Ten Speed Press, is designed to appeal both to industry professionals able to whip up a concept drink such as cosmo popcorn (a liquid nitrogen recipe with a safety warning included), as well as home-bar enthusiasts wanting to serve their guests a simple buck's fizz (one part fresh orange juice and four parts champagne).

But for Conigliaro's fellow cocktail scientists, well versed in working with everything from xanthan gum (a thickening agent) and hydrosols (water-based essences) to tinctures (concentrated small volumes of flavour), his book is a long-awaited treatise, the unlocking of original recipes created by one of the masterminds of their wet-bar world.

"Tony is a legend and one of the most interesting, innovative bartenders out there," says Ann Tuennerman, founder and executive director of Tales of the Cocktail, the industry's premier trade event.