Bibby Scientific and Aske Stephenson Bring Molecular Mixing to Cocktail Mixology

Bibby Scientific announced today that it has formed a partnership with Aske Stephenson, a pioneering alcoholic beverage manufacturer, who will be using benchtop laboratory instruments from Bibby such as the Stuart® RE300 Rotary Evaporator to produce innovative pre-bottled cocktails. Aske Stephenson specializes in developing hand-produced cocktails that are designed to introduce consumers to new and unusual flavor combinations, using a scientific approach that pushes taste boundaries.

Bibby Scientific’s Stuart Rotary Evaporators are extremely reliable, safe and user-friendly instruments that are used widely in chemistry laboratories in universities and pharmaceutical companies. The Rotary Evaporators can also operate under vacuum, making them perfect for the unique distillation requirements of Aske Stephenson’s cocktail mixology.

“We needed to distil alcoholic liquids for making our cocktails, but the distillation process generates heat that can impair the cocktail flavours,” explained Thomas Aske, Aske Stephenson. “By placing the RE300 under vacuum, the pressure of the system is lowered, so we can distil our alcoholic liquids at lower temperatures and maximize the impact of our unusual flavors.”

Katy Bridge, Assistant Product Manager at Bibby Scientific said, “We’re really excited to be able to support Aske Stephenson in developing these innovative new cocktails. We’re seeing increasing interest in applying scientific technologies to creative industries such as cocktail mixology, where the reliability and ease-of-use of Stuart instruments makes these lab science principles much more accessible.”

Aske Stephenson is currently using Bibby’s technologies to produce three award-winning cocktails:

• Peanut Butter & Jam Old Fashioned (Gold medal winner) - American Whiskey macerated with peanut butter and jam before being redistilled under pressure and seasoned.

​

• Leather & Walnut Sazerac (Gold medal winner) - This Sazerac takes inspiration from classic luxury goods by distilling American rye whiskey under pressure with leather and ground walnuts before being sweetened and bittered to perfection.

​

• The Revery (Masters award winner) - A modern day interpretation of the spritzer, The Revery combines London Dry Gin with a beeswax-washed vermouth, amaro and acid phosphate.