>> This episode of the Modern Rogue brought to you by Raycon.
>> Go to BuyRaycon.com/Rogue
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>> Yeah, but you got to spell it right.
>> He's not going to tell you how though, you know.
>> Ah, you'll figure it out.
>> You know.
>> Get a friend.
>> I believe in you.
>> It's fine.
>> Ready?
Damn it, ah.
So close!
Forget it, I'm done.
>> We're back with Nick from Cocktail Chemistry.
This looks like we're teetering very close
to actual chemistry.
>> Yeah, we're going to get into some science here.
We're going to be making cocktail pods.
>> Is this going to get us in trouble?
Do we need lawyers?
We need to stop the kids.
Say no to cocktail pods.
>> Yeah, this is not a Tide pod challenge,
so nobody should be eating detergent here.
But we're going to be taking, actually,
somewhat of a similar concept in creating a way
to serve a cocktail inside a gelatinous sort of membrane.
>> That's what I've always wanted.
>> Is it actual gelatin?
Because we've played with various types of gelatin
when we did ballistics gel.
>> Well, hello everyone.
Just as handsome in gelatinous form.
>> So this is straight up gelatin with booze inside.
>> Yeah, there's a couple specialty ingredients here
that we'll take about more as we get into it.
But one of them is sodium alginate.
Alginate is actually a molecule that's derived from seaweed,
and it also functions as a gel.
But the unique thing about this ingredient
is that it only reacts and becomes a gel
when it gets in contact with calcium ions.
And so, we're going to take that, that principle
and sort of separate the calcium from the sodium alginate.
And then bring them together at the end, which you'll see,
in a way that sort of forms a membrane around a cocktail.
So there is broadly two steps to this process.
We need to create a bath with our sodium alginate.
That's going to help with some of the
gel-a-fication that happens later.
There's a couple of steps you need to do
really 24 hours in advance, and this is one of those steps.
Get a liter of water.
Pour it into a bowl like this.
It's very important that we use distilled water
because, as I mentioned, this sodium alginate
is going to react to calcium.
>> And there's going to be lots of calcium in regular tap water.
That's part of why it tastes good.
>> Exactly, you want to remove all the minerals
from the water that you're using.
So distilled water is really important for this.
And then blend in five grams of this sodium alginate.
>> Okay.
>> It's a point-five percent solution.
>> This looks very syrupy though.
>> It's very syrupy, it's thick.
It's a gelling agent, right?
So it will thicken it up.
It actually hasn't turned into a gel yet.
It's just thickened the water.
It's waiting to encounter calcium ions
that we'll introduce with the cocktail
in the form of this calcium lactate gluconate.
>> If Brian were to do a shot of just the alginate --
>> I think I'd have a bad day because I'm going to guess
that there's calcium in my belly somewhere
that that would react with.
>> It turns into a gel in your stomach.
Yeah, that's a good experiment.
>> No, that sounds like a bad experiment.
>> It'll be some interesting poops.
>> Perfectly clear.
[laughing]
>> Worth it, worth it!
I'm going to do it now.
>> When you blend the sodium alginate into this water,
it's going to be really bubbly.
And you don't want bubbles.
Bubbles will make the cocktail pod sort of float,
as you'll see later.
And so, this is why we do this 24 hours in advance.
You just let it sit.
And as you can see, it's actually very clear right now.
The bubbles have dissipated.
So this is a step you want to do ahead of time.
Let that sit for at least two or three hours,
but up to 24 hours.
So that is really step one.
And we're going to put this aside for now
and go onto the next step that you'll also want to do
about 24 hours in advance.
This is making our flavorful liquid ...
in this case, it's going to be an old-fashioned cocktail.
And we're going to put it in here and blend in
some of our calcium lactate gluconate.
You're going to need some specialty equipment for this,
just a heads up.
One of them that's really important is going to be this scale.
And this is a scale that can actually weigh
to the point-one gram, tenth of a gram.
And that's because we need to be very precise
with how much of this calcium lactate gluconate
that we put in.
Effectively, you need to put in two percent of the weight
of the liquid in your calcium lactate.
>> Oh, wow.
>> So we need to weigh the liquid of the cocktail first.
>> I thought you were just very fussy about your cocktails.
Now I'm realizing that we need to science it right.
Otherwise, it'll dissolve.
>> I'm going to do a very standard old-fashioned template here.
So I'm using some rye.
Two ounces or sixty mils of rye.
And then we're going to do just a bit of maple syrup.
Really to taste, some people do just a bar spoon.
Some people do a quarter of an ounce.
>> I hear you, the whole bottle, that's fine.
>> Yeah, just dump the whole bottle in.
Depends on how much of a sweet tooth you have.
I'm just going to --
>> Don't hand it to him.
>> I'll straight-up drink it.
You know I will.
>> Oh, I know, I know.
>> So this is just basically angostura bitters, aromatics.
You can use really any bitters you want here.
We're just going to do a standard old-fashioned
with some aromatics.
I'm going to do, you know, a few dashes worth in there.
>> A little goes a long way.
>> That brought us up to 57-point-two grams.
Normally, with a cocktail, you'd stir over ice.
But what we're actually going to be doing
is freezing these in here.
So we don't really need to stir it over ice.
We just need to account for some of the dilution
and add the water in.
>> Are you able to freeze whiskey all the way through?
>> Anything under 30 percent ABV,
you can freeze at about negative six degrees Fahrenheit.
This is going to come out to about 25 percent ABV
once we add in the water to dilute it.
>> And so even then, is the alcohol itself frozen?
Or it's just trapped inside the ice,
which is frozen around it?
>> It's going to be kind of slushy,
but it should freeze pretty well
if you have your freezer set pretty low.
Let me get some of this distilled water.
And we're just going to add about one ounce,
or 30 mils in here.
And this is just going to account for the dilution
we would normally get if were going to stir this with ice.
So this is going to get us to 85-point-two grams.
So we have our cocktail,
and now we need to do two percent of that
in calcium lactate gluconate.
>> It is astonishing how different it feels
seeing the same cocktail that we've seen
made at a bar with flair and storytelling or whatever.
>> That we've made on this show!
>> But now, it's just like, doot, doot, doot.
And there you have one unit of cocktail.
Please enjoy.
>> First, let's do a little math,
figure out what two percent of that is.
>> Two percent?
That's, uh, that's a number.
>> That's a number, okay.
>> Oh, I've already thought of it.
Here, it's right here.
I'm just waiting for you to catch up.
>> Would it be one-point-seven?
>> One-point-seven-oh-four, but yeah.
>> Okay, we got one-point-seven.
One-point-five, one-point-six, and one-point-eight.
One-point-seven, one-point-eight, we're good.
This technique is called reverse spherification,
where we're going to add these basically calcium ions
into the cocktail, freeze it into the shape that we want,
sort of a pod shape right here.
>> How much is that going to affect the taste of that?
>> Not at all.
>> Just drop this in?
>> Drop that in.
[drink mixing]
These are just air bubbles forming.
This will start to dissipate pretty quickly.
We are good to go with our liquid here.
We now just need to get it into the shape we want.
In reality, we could just straight drop this in here,
and it would actually start to form that reaction.
>> Whoa, it'd be like crazy goo.
It'd be your clear poops that you wanted to see.
>> But if you got a novelty ice cube tray,
I'm guessing that you could have like little Darth Vader.
>> It would not retain a very precise shape.
It would still turn into something a little more amorphous.
>> And these need to be frozen at what temperature?
>> As cold as you can get your freezer.
So I'd say at least negative six degrees Fahrenheit.
I got mine to go down to negative eight.
>> I don't think I've ever seen frozen alcohol.
If only some would appear.
[clapping]
>> Did I grab the right ones?
>> Nailed it.
>> Okay.
>> So glad you didn't drop that.
Ooh, look, they look a little slushy.
A little slushy.
>> Like, are we in a time crunch?
We have to do something fast before they?
>> It's okay, actually, if it melts a little bit.
It just might not retain the shape we want it to.
>> We'll take blobby pods.
>> That was our band name.
>> Well, let's do the blobbiest of pods, like with this.
>> Yeah.
>> Ooh, that's a blobby pod.
>> That's a blobby pod.
>> All right, blobby pod.
>> Drop it in.
>> Blobby pod.
Ooh, that's going to be a weird blobby pod.
>> That's going to be a weird shape.
What's happening right now is the calcium ions
that are blended into this cocktail
are now reacting with the sodium alginate
that we had into this bath.
So you kind of want to just stir this a little bit
until that membrane starts to form.
Should take a couple minutes.
This one we dropped in, because it's thawed a little bit,
it's going to be a weird shape.
That's not going to look like a cocktail pod.
So what's happening is,
some of it's actually leaked out a little bit
and starting to form into a gelatin.
This one's probably going to be a wash.
What we really want to do is
bring it into these cold water baths to stop the reaction.
Do it in one, do it in the second.
And then I'm just going to drop it on onto this towel here.
So that is a really janky-looking --
>> No, its a heart, its a heart!
Look, we did a Valentine's-themed blobby pod.
>> I think what we're going to want to do, actually,
is maybe just try ... Did we dump that stuff out?
>> The previous stuff, this?
>> That's the stuff we blended?
>> Yep, do you just want to try pouring it right in?
>> Let's give that a go.
Let me just clear some of this crap out.
>> So in this case,
we're not trying for any particular shape.
We just want to see it make itself into a pod?
>> Yeah, yeah, let's dump this.
Just a quick drop of stuff in there.
>> Just a little bit?
>> Do about enough of a pods worth,
but just drop it really fast.
>> Ooh, that worked good.
>> That actually worked pretty good.
>> Oh, neat.
>> That's a nice blobby pod.
>> Yeah, so you can see it's already started
to form a little membrane on that side.
>> Yeah.
>> Looks like we're about six weeks along.
>> And then, we're going to get this in our ...
This is just distilled water right here.
We're just cleaning it off, stopping the reaction.
>> Ooh, that looks good.
Everyone else is making whiskey pods.
We made whiskey embryos.
Yeah!
>> Okay, one more?
Let's do one more.
>> Okay.
>> It worked perfect.
>> Whoa, that one looks awesome.
>> It's going to break, though, see how it's --
>> Wait, so you're saying this is going to break
no matter what right?
[laughter]
>> So I'm just saying, it'd be a shame
if all that went to waste.
If I was just to --
>> Do it, do it.
Make it weird.
>> Mmm, actually pretty strong.
It was like suckling on a teet.
>> Okay, made it weirder, good job.
>> All right, ready.
>> He's a changeling.
He does this sometimes.
He's going to start talking
about the wisdom of the stars in a minute.
>> Oh, my god, oh, my god.
>> Yes!
>> I did good until I realized there's alcohol in it.
>> You did perfect.
>> Oh, my god.
Clean up on aisle three over here.
>> We'll be right back.
>> Do it real fast.
Just drop.
>> Oh, wow, yeah.
>> Come on, baby.
>> Let's see, let's see.
So it's definitely thawed.
We have a little run off snottiness here.
>> Ooh, that looks good.
>> It looks a little bit more of like a pod already.
Again, put it in the distilled water here.
>> Oh, that looks really good.
>> That looks solid.
>> Let's not jinx it.
Come on, stay together.
>> Oh, I'm going to jinx the hell out of it.
It's perfect.
Nothing will go wrong.
>> Oh, our beautiful baby whiskey egg.
>> There we go.
>> Ooh, it looks pretty firm.
>> Should be able to pick it up and pinch it.
It should stay intact, if we've done it correctly.
>> Look at this little baby whiskey pod.
>> I like it.
>> What I would do, if I were going to serve this pretty soon,
is I would put it in the fridge for like an hour,
just to cool it down, and then serve it.
>> All right, ready?
>> Give me some height.
>> Height?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Okay, I'm going to do it like that.
>> Yep, yep, yep.
>> All right, ready?
I'm bad at this.
>> I'm bad too.
>> Okay, miracle, here we go.
>> Oh!
>> I got plenty!
>> You got some!
>> I can't drive.
I'll fail a breathalyzer.
And that's all that matters.
Dude, that's fantastic, man.
All right, where can we learn more of this stuff?
So you can head over to my channel, Cocktail Chemistry.
I go through a couple other recipes with this.
I do a Negroni, an old-fashioned, whiskey sour.
You can go on my channel
to find some more fun, advanced cocktail tricks.
>> All right, let's make more.
I want to be drenched in old-fashioned.
Dude, I was at the grocery store the other day.
I looked over, dude had these earbuds,
and they had wires that just dangled out.
>> What?
>> And then they came down together
and they tied together like in a knot,
and then they were tucked into his pocket.
and I was like, "Is that a walkman?
"What is happening?"
>> Was he a cyborg?
>> Is this 1972?
>> Oh, that's disgusting.
>> And I thought to myself,
"What's the battery life on those?"
And then I realized, there wasn't even a battery.
There was no place for a battery.
>> And I just thought to myself,
>> Did you slap him?
I actually just screamed, ahh!
But I didn't hear it because I was listening to my Raycons.
>> Yes, see, you don't have to hear crazy people
screaming at you in the produce section.
>> You can be the crazy person.
>> You can be the crazy person!
>> Just scream all you want.
You won't hear it.
>> Yeah!
>> Because you're having six hours of battery life,
you can recharge it four times a day
in the little, discreet pill case.
I like the fact that there's discreet pills
somehow involved with Raycons.
>> They just look so sleek, I like it.
>> They're cozy, they're comfortable.
>> You can get the colors you like.
>> But the important part is that you can support our show
with our favorite earbuds
by going to BuyRaycon.com/Rogue.
Spell it right, R-O-G-U-E, get 15 percent off.
>> Yeah, that's 15 percent off what is already
starting at half the price of other premium earbuds.
>> Less than half the price.
>> Significantly less than half the price.
>> Yeah, so don't be one of those disgusting animals
walking around with wires coming out of your ears.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Too hard?
>> BuyRaycon.com/Rogue, 15 percent off.
>> I love that you called it your flavorful liquids.
>> But it's a good point though.
Let's say your doing a kid's party.
You could do Kool-Aid pods or something.
>> Exactly, yeah, I've heard of people doing
malt wine and stuff with this.
But yeah, you could do something totally non-alcoholic.
>> Like gasoline?
>> Jesus.
>> Let me get a pen.
>> I'm just like, future episodes are --