Sean Carroll

Something I did, I got this impression from your book, I don't know if you said it explicitly, but the difference between the less expensive spirits and the more expensive spirits is not more exquisiteness when you get more expensive, but fewer flaws.

Good, good. So I'm remembering we need to close the loop on the texture of the martini and how it relates to the aeration.

Good, good. So I'm remembering we need to close the loop on the texture of the martini and how it relates to the aeration.

But in terms of texture, does it become either like smoother or rougher? Or maybe I'm just taking the word texture too literally when you shake it.

But in terms of texture, does it become either like smoother or rougher? Or maybe I'm just taking the word texture too literally when you shake it.

Given the importance of temperature and the competition between that and dilution, is there any advantage to be gained by like these fake ice cubes? You know, you get like these rocks that don't melt or the classic move of chilling the glass?

Given the importance of temperature and the competition between that and dilution, is there any advantage to be gained by like these fake ice cubes? You know, you get like these rocks that don't melt or the classic move of chilling the glass?

I'm glad you said that because I've tried various versions and none of them really work. And I'm just back to like, I have the thing that makes the big spherical ice cubes, which I think is great if you need ice at all. It looks pretty and it also melts more slowly, right?

I'm glad you said that because I've tried various versions and none of them really work. And I'm just back to like, I have the thing that makes the big spherical ice cubes, which I think is great if you need ice at all. It looks pretty and it also melts more slowly, right?

No, no, but we can all get better, right? We can all learn. I presume most engineers don't have a specialty in perfumery either, but this is playing a very big role in your book. I was interested to see that. Obviously, there is a scent and aroma to cocktails, but I never thought of that as one of the major things to keep in mind.

No, no, but we can all get better, right? We can all learn. I presume most engineers don't have a specialty in perfumery either, but this is playing a very big role in your book. I was interested to see that. Obviously, there is a scent and aroma to cocktails, but I never thought of that as one of the major things to keep in mind.

optimization on the aroma side. It seems like there'd be a natural affinity between wine tasting or winemaking and perfumery. I don't know if that's true, but they're both examples where you have weird collections of many, many complicated molecules that do things in unexpected combinations.

optimization on the aroma side. It seems like there'd be a natural affinity between wine tasting or winemaking and perfumery. I don't know if that's true, but they're both examples where you have weird collections of many, many complicated molecules that do things in unexpected combinations.

I did do an interview once with Anne-Sophie Barvich, who is a philosopher of smell. Do you know her work? Yeah, I read her book. Smellosophy, right. And it was great. She was brilliant enough to choose that as a specialty because it's great to have a specialty that nobody else does, right? And she's also a neuroscientist, so she has a lab and so forth. But

I did do an interview once with Anne-Sophie Barvich, who is a philosopher of smell. Do you know her work? Yeah, I read her book. Smellosophy, right. And it was great. She was brilliant enough to choose that as a specialty because it's great to have a specialty that nobody else does, right? And she's also a neuroscientist, so she has a lab and so forth. But

Maybe the most important thing I learned from that conversation was the contextuality of smells. Like something can be literally exactly the same smell. And not only do different people identify it differently, but the same person will react either positively or negatively, depending on what's going on elsewhere in their sensorium.

Maybe the most important thing I learned from that conversation was the contextuality of smells. Like something can be literally exactly the same smell. And not only do different people identify it differently, but the same person will react either positively or negatively, depending on what's going on elsewhere in their sensorium.

Yes, exactly.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah. And so I presume that this is also something that you need to take into account, but when you're, Taking into account, when you say the perfumery aspect, it's not that you're literally putting perfume into the cocktails. It's that you're thinking like a perfumer when you're balancing or deciding what plays nicely with other things in the cocktails.