Consider Tim Laird and Steve Hughes the Martin and Lewis of
cocktails. “We play off each other, go back and forth,” Laird says.
Laird is Canadian Mist Whisky’s “chief entertainment officer,” and
Hughes is its “spirits scientist.” For the past three year, they’ve
been traveling the country presenting “Mistology: The Science Behind
the Cocktail.” They have a stop at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art on
Thursday. Proceeds from the event go to the museum.
“Mistology” is a mix of science, history, and cocktail-making, Laird
says. Laird mixes up the old standbys — the Manhattan, the Old
Fashioned, and the Whisky Sour, for example — while Hughes
describes the whisky-making process and discusses the science that
comes into play — the density of the liquor and the properties of
the garnishes, for example — when making a drink.
This is a promotional event for Canadian Mist, and both Laird and
Hughes stand by the whisky’s mixability. To prove the point, Laird
makes traditionally clear liquor drinks, such as Margaritas and
Cosmopolitans, and Hughes backs him up with data.
“Mistology” also has an interactive component. Guests are invited to
mix their own drinks after the presentation. Laird and Hughes are also
up for questions.
One of the most asked questions is about ice. The bigger the better,
they say. Another one is about hangovers and the “whisky and beer”
adage. To those ends, moderation is the key, both pronounce.
The answer to another popular cocktail question, one that Hughes has
taken to his lab to study, is available only to “Mistology”-goers:
shaken or stirred?