Akron Life May 2023

greenery and a vile of billowing smoke. “It’s reminiscent of a garden, early morning, where dew, mist and fog rise up and cover the ground,” Testa says. “It’s very light and delicious, and very easy to drink.” You get involved in creating cocktails like the gin and tonic ($13). Vials of gin and tonic, a pipette of lime juice and lime infused ice cubes arrive at the table, and you build the cocktail. For Love on the Rocks ($12), you spoon watermelon Pop Rocks into your mouth and then sip a sweet and spicy vodka-based drink, caus ing a reaction and flavor explosion. The blue-ribbon winner is the Watson Old Fashioned ($25), completely rein vented. Mixologists use a Japanese coffee siphon to infuse bourbon with vanilla bean, orange, allspice, cinchona bark, clove, cinnamon and house bitters and then cool it with dry ice. In stunning fash ion, the bourbon gets sucked up into the siphon as it heats, gets infused with flavor ings at the top and flows down the siphon when the heat is removed. “It’s very smoky, very aromatic. There’s fire. It happens with a Bunsen burner,” Testa says. “It looks like a science experiment that’s happening in front of us.” watsonspeakeasy.com

Walk the Plank

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MAY 2023 | akronlife.com