This is the text and slides of a seminar dealing with cocktail creativity and the science of creativity done in Art of the Cocktail festival at Victoria, BC, on 2012. It deals with the sciene of creativity, as is relevant to the bartending world, as well as detailing techniques for coming up with new and creative recipes.

1. Introduction -
Hiya guys, my name is Oron Lerner, I'm a bartender from Israel. This here is the slides and texts
from a seminar given in Art of the Cocktail 2012 on behalf of EuroWineGate, and a great big
thanks do they all deserve for letting this happen.
Before we start I'd like to share a small insight – when discussing creativity people would often
find their minds drift to new ideas and techniques and we cannot help ourselves but lose focus,
which is a great sign that this topic excites you. Those of you who can take a break, examine a
notion or idea and then come back to the text are welcomed, those of you who can't help it grab
a piece of paper and doodle anything that comes to you during this read. Don't fight it, just let it
happen, it's part of this process and it’s a long enough written mass for breaks to be welcomed
in betweens.

2. Just what is Creativity? –
Creativity is a continuous process of defining our work limits, working within those limits and
then finding new ways to exceed the limits and find new ones.
For example, for a bartender creativity would start by learning the various tools of the trade and
how to work with the various ingredients in his bar, the limits of his creative work are what is
available to him right now. Until a point when those are no longer sufficient and new ingredients
start pouring in or the bartender finds new ways of expressing or combining those ingredients,
such as infusing a spice into a spirit that will give him an entirely new ingredient to work with.

3. Scientifically, Creativity is measured against problem-solving skills, the further away the solution
is from the average, most acceptable solution the more creative it is. 'Problem' in our case can
be defined as 'a need to come up with a new cocktail recipe', in which case mixing whiskey,
bitters and sugar (an Old Fashioned essentially) might not be the most creative new drink recipe
available as it already answers an existing frame, it is 'close to an average and an already
acceptable solution'. This is not to say that one cannot get creative with an Old Fashioned
cocktail formula. We'll get to that later.
'Problem' can also be defined differently. The creative process is also about finding new
problems or redefining old ones. For example, is this about finding new cocktails? Or creating
new experiences? Or re-shaping an entire cocktail menu? And how can we use the difference
between a cocktail and an experience to create something…well…creative? The very discussion
and redefinition of the creative challenge will often send you on a new, exciting and creative
journey. "Every problem is an opportunity in disguise"
The second part of the creative process is about criticism, preferably self-oriented, that gives the
creative process its context. There is a result that needs to happen at the end of this process, be
that one great new cocktail recipe or an entire menu, but the reality of the bar business shapes
our context – drinks must be priced accordingly, hence what ingredients and amounts can go in
them. They should have a certain portion of alcohol in them – too much or too little makes the
drink lose its context. The cocktails have roles within the menu – a menu that is entirely just
sour, even if refreshing and pleasant might wear down the guests looking for something of a
different nature. Defining our context will also help define our creative challenge and assure
more realistic results.

4. How many times have you seen a bored child walk up to a table filled with various sodas and
light drinks and condiments and start mixing his own kind of 'cocktail'? these creations usually
end up as having a bit of every liquid on the table, possibly some ketchup, pepper, salt, sugar
and some ashtray leftovers. Is this a creative process? Yes. It is also a very creative drink, but it
lacks context. Creativity bereft of context is very poor art.
"It can't just be weird man, people have to dig it" / Winton Marsalis
Since randomly adding ingredients to a shaker does not a creative cocktail make we should treat
creativity as a process and not a specific point in time, it is a set of techniques, guidelines and
suggestions that will help foster this process and encourage us to be more creative.
Before we continue further into what creativity is, let us discuss what creativity is NOT – it is not
a unique talent, it has little or nothing to do with intelligence, nor is it genetic in any way. It is a
way of operating, a way of thinking that literally anyone can adopt.
There are, however, a few common traits to people who have a tendency to be more creative -
1. Be playful.
Play with possible solutions, don't be afraid to try something just because it might be absurd or
might fail.
2. Have fun.
Nobody really finds a creative solution when he's not open minded and enjoying him/herself.
3. Take your time.
Free time is essential to this process. Find it. Make it happen.
Studies have been able to find other common habits amongst creative people:
- They are devoted to their work, and more of this devotion when we discuss Shumi.
- They have a drive for independence and therefore also to take responsibility for it, this refers
to the infamous ability to fail – and learn from it, that are so essential to the creative process.
- Have an urge for originality and are willing to spend their time on a problem until a creative
solution is found.
- Show flexibility in thinking processes.
State of Mind – Opened and Closed.
The open state of mind is when creative ideas are formed. It is a secluded play-time of the mind
that you have (preferably) cleared in the schedule to do just that – sit, think, write down any
creative idea that comes up no matter how ridiculous or absurd. Do not test any of the ideas
yet, do not finish any other chores. Just meditate for an hour and a half about the problem you
have defined.
Only after said period, should you examine the various solutions you found and proceed to
executing them. This would be the closed mind mode when we are aiming at accurate results

5. and no longer ponder various other solutions.
Preparation -
Preparation comes in two different time frames. The long term preparation is the slow
acquisition of required knowledge of the craft and profession, the various techniques,
ingredients, their process and flavors, what might work with what and what is an already
acceptable combination. These are our defined limits and it can take several years to learn the
boundaries of our creative requirements (such as, is it within our context to infuse cigars into
rum? Answer: No, it's apparently very poisonous).
Originality requires an origin, without knowing what already is you can never really be creative
no matter what the fantasies about 'new and upcoming stars with huge talents who can just
create out of nothing a new and super exciting drink' tell you, even such stars must have this
preparation time, meant to build up a bank of knowledge from which to draw your inspiration.
Without this bank of knowledge you are, in a way, Alice in Wonderland – going on a road but
having no destination.
Research has shown that it takes poets as long as 5 years before their creations live up to any
creativity measuring standard in poetry. Painters take 6 years, composers and chess players take
as long as 10. And though the research does not detail bartenders, we've taken a measure of
our own based on Gaz's 101 Best New Cocktails books, checking to see how long the various
contributors to the book have been in the business of creating new drinks and came up with our

6. own estimate – 5 years of dabbling in new cocktail making and real bar work before a
bartender's creations develop a unique style that might just be his/her own.
Short term preparation is the process of getting into the open mind mode – defining the
problem, its boundaries and context, the results required, clearing enough schedule time to
ponder different solutions, researching various aspects of the problem (how to best utilize
different ingredients, what fresh fruit are available this time of the year etc..)
When you decide to come up with a new range of drinks, maybe a whole new menu or maybe
just one drink, here are a couple of basic ideas you might want to consider -
1. Combine group-work and working alone. Various stages can benefit from group work better,
such as defining the problem as a group will give you better context to work within.
2. Do not stress or push it. Alfred Hitchcock would force his writing staff to stop their work and
busy themselves with something trivial or irrelevant whenever he'd think they're stressing it.
Creativity does not work well under pressure.
3. 5 Minute rule : 5 minutes is the minimum life span of ANY idea. Whenever a new idea comes
up you may discuss only its positive aspects for 5 minutes before any negatives are brought to
the table.
4. Prime yourself to creative work. Priming is the notion of getting prepared for something even
in an unconscious way. Just set in the schedule a "creative free slot" with enough time. Doing
this in advance helps prime your subconscious and guarantee better focus.
5. Whenever you encounter an assumption or a rule, attempt to find ways in which it is not true
or may be changed.
Japanese artists have two very related terms that I will also try to explain, in an attempt to
further discuss creativity. The terms are Shumi and Shuyou.

7. Shumi (趣味, Hobby, Taste, Elegance) –
Shumi refers to a relentless devotion to one hobby or profession. There is no difference
between the two, and there are no plurals for this one – just one field of interest that pushes to
develop it and into it endlessly. This term explains why passionate bartenders are more creative
than others, it is a major motivator in coming up with new and exciting drinks, however it is not
sufficient.
Shuyou (修養, Discipline) -

8. This is an undefined range of knowledge that is not necessarily related directly to your Shumi,
however it is helpful in fostering the creative process within it. Knowledge of origami, cooking,
politics, arts, psychology and any other field that isn’t cocktail-creation nevertheless helps you
become more creative, bringing in new context to create within and new inspiration to draw
from.
It is the combination of Shumi and Shuyou that allows an artist to be both creative and relevant
in his work.
Inspiration -
Is that exciting moment when we link between a new solution to an old problem. You'll know it
hit you when you have a sudden need, a drive, an urge to experiment. To test your idea, to
execute it, it will lift you up and force you to implement something new and you will
immediately say "why didn’t I think of this earlier?"
Much like humor – a joke's punch line is the connection between two separate concepts being
linked together, as in Terry Pratchett's Pyramids – "What our ancestors would really be thinking
if they were alive today is 'why is it so dark in here?'" – and only understanding where our
ancestors are, physically, today will we understand why that is the case. Inspiration comes from
anywhere and is very capricious, hence it is useful to have a pen and paper available with you at
all times. But take it from other great artists and just tell your inspiration to come back at a
more convenient time.
Next comes the experimentation. This is a different mode than the rest of the process in that it
is a close-minded one. You have an idea, you want to try it, alter it, try it again, alter it some
more, until it meets your requirements, until it is indeed a solution to your 'problem'.
In the experimentation stage it is less helpful to ponder random new ideas or play about with an
ingredient that isn't relevant, put those creative parts aside and focus on getting the idea into
liquid form with as little interruptions as possible.
Remember, it is an acceptable practice even if a sad one, to pour a bad experiment down the
drain. Its ok to make mistakes and to fail, it is an essential part of the creative process and as
long as you do not repeat your mistakes but learn from them you are making very desirable
progress.

9. Technique #1 - Twist on a Classic
Taking advantage of the base of knowledge built during preparation, it is common practice to
take an existing known classical recipe and substituting one or more ingredients with others.
The known ratio and well established balance of the source-drink, along with careful choices
regarding the new ingredients based on understanding them guarantees minimal need for
experimentation for a quick solution to our creative challenge.

10. Technique #2 - Role Playing
A known recipe has logic behind it. Take the ingredients of the recipe, and translate them into
their attributes and roles in the recipe. Which is the sour, which is the bitter, what flavors do
they bring? herbal? floral? fruity? are they strong or weak alcohol-wise?.
Next, mix up the attributes until you find a new ingredient that can fulfill the new attributes
until all the cocktails' original attributes are filled. You now have a list of ingredients that still
answer to the original drinks' logic even though nothing remains or resembles it. This will
require you to play around with the ratio, as the ingredients have changed somewhat and the
new drink will be nothing like the original source but will follow the logic behind it.
Example - El Presidente is a classic cuban cocktail. Though it has many versions, for the purpose
of this example we'll start with this one:
1.5oz Cuban Rum
0.75oz Sweet white vermouth
0.25oz Curacao
0.25tsp grenadine
Translate these into their roles and attributes in the cocktail recipe:
Cuban Rum = Crisp, dry yet complex. A base spirit and the main body of the drink.
Sweet white vermouth = Low alcoholic content, delicate sweetness and mainly herbal flavors

11. Curacao = relatively high alcoholic content, fruity flavors of oranges and high sweetness.
grenadine = Mostly color apparently, but also a bit of tartness and sweetness when using real
grenadine, as well as just a hint of texture.
Now instead of a recipe with ratios and ingredients we have a recipe with attributes and flavors
and can alter those. For example, if we mix the high alcoholic content and lots of sweetness
attributes of the curacao with the herbal flavors of the vermouth we could substitute the 0.25oz
ingredient with herbal liqueurs such as Chartreuse.
If we link between the lower alcoholic content and delicate sweetness of the vermouth with the
fruity notes we could substitute them for other fruity liqueurs. However if we take this further
and even replace Fruity with Floral we could use the wonderful June liqueur. A bit of further
tampering and the result, as was served was -
June's Elections -
1.5oz Excellia Reposado tequila
0.5oz June Liqueur (reduced amount for better balance)
1tsp yellow Chartreuse
Stir, strain, enjoy.

12. Please note, this is NOT an El Presidente, it is merely a recipe that is based on one possibly
interpretation of what an El Presidente is. The beauty of this process is that as a group you can
translate the recipe into its logical components and then separately each would come up with
an entirely unique and creative recipe, all adhering to the original one but untraceable.
On some basic recipes this is common practice – Sour drinks, basically being composed of spirit,
sour component (lemon, lime or other) and a sweet component, sometimes with egg white
and/or bitters. Same goes for various stirred drinks (1.5oz spirit, 0.75oz modifier, 0.25oz liqueur
with maybe a dash of bitters as an example), collins, cobblers, fixes, skins, blazers and whatnots
that have a basic structure and style but no defining exact recipe.

13. Technique #3 - Incubation.
Just let it go.
Silly as it sounds, our subconscious is a powerful thinking engine, independent of our conscious
thoughts and mind. Let it work on the problem while you take a metaphorical vacation
(complete with Hawaii style tan-bed and a blue cocktail with a small paper umbrella in it if
possible. I find blue cocktails and paper umbrellas foster a lot of creativity).
Creativity flounders under pressure and stress. If you're under pressure and cannot find the
solution, distract yourself. Go to a bar, have a drink, have a chat with a friend or just go to sleep.
The answer will come to you later on.

14. Try not to settle for a solution that isn't creative, innovative or exciting enough. Rather, stick
with the problem until you come up with a better solution. This is the essence of brainstorming
and the preparation stage – write down many different solutions, examine all of them and keep
on looking, as opposed to the instinctual habit of finding the quickest easiest solution to the
creative challenge and rushing off to implement it. Science has already shown that the longer
you ponder a problem, and the more possible solutions you come up with, the better and more
creative your result is.
Technique #4 - Ingredient Context
As mentioned, creativity requires context to work within otherwise one finds oneself drinking
ketchup. Limitations, it seems, actually enhance the creative process as they allow us to better
define our limits – and those, once defined, can be crossed or manipulated. This technique takes
on a single starting ingredient as the context for the next creation.
Find a new ingredient, preferably one you haven't tasted yet or an item you want to incorporate
into a cocktail. Taste it and write down your impressions of it. Then, based on your written
impressions try and find other flavors or ingredients to add to the mix:
1. Enhancing existing flavors - add what you sensed, what you felt in the ingredient. If you tasted
pineapple, then adding pineapple to the recipe is the logical step.
2. Enhancing complimenting flavors - find flavors that would compliment what you found,
although they may not be present in the initial ingredient itself. If there was pineapple notes in
the spirit and coffee works well with pineapple, perhaps a cocktail combining this spirit and
coffee would also work well.
This is a logical chain. There's X in the drink. X and Y work well, therefore the drink might work
well with Y too. Creativity however, is not subject to logic and it is acceptable for some steps to
be illogical and still yield a positive, creative result. For this we have the next notion –
3. Add absent flavors - what flavors aren't there? what aren't complimenting? what flavors do
not even remotely exist in this drink? what flavors will NOT work with this drink and how can we
make them work nevertheless? remember that creativity is a lot about challenging known
assumptions and finding new and creative solutions to old problems.
Po: Intermediate Impossibilities -
Edward de Bono's research on creativity deals with just that – absurd and illogical processes that
nevertheless lead to creative results. Based on an illogical process, de Bono suggests you
randomly discuss various aspects of the creative challenge, the initial context-ingredient or any
other aspect of the matter.
Say things that are ridiculous, absurd, illogical, irrelevant, be playful, have fun, joke around – and

15. then check these sayings to see if they make any logical and relevant connection with the
original challenge. While a computer can generate many more random connections, it can never
translate these connections into meaningful recipes – and every bartender will find different
meanings to different connections thus leading to a truly unique and original technique.
For example, taking the pineapple-scented spirit, one can discuss the pineapple as the spirit of
hospitality thus making the drink a shared drink or a punch, one can link the pineapple to
Tanqueray gin (whose emblem is a pineapple) and see if gin works with this spirit or one can
relate to the tropical climate required to raise pineapples and make the drink a 'wet' one (i.e.
sweet). None of these connections are logical and yet all may work very well.
Technique #5 - Flavor Bouncing
This is a technique for creating multi-ingredient very complex cocktail recipes based on
combining flavors, at either one of the possibilities explained in the Ingredient-Context
technique above.
At the first stage, focus only on combining flavors. Ignore ratios, measures or specific ingredients
if you can. The trick is that any flavor added to the mix should work well in your opinion, with all
the other items already on the list.
So, pick a starting item - ingredient or flavor. Think what might work well with it and add your
second flavor. Then try to come up with another flavor that works both with the first and second
items, then add another. Every item added should work well with the rest of the items on this
list, at least to your personal taste.
Stop adding items when you've hit your event horizon - when you can no longer imagine how
the flavors will combine and what the end result might be.

16. Next, play around with the flavors and find ways to incorporate them into the drink. A flavor can
come as a liquor, liqueur, spice, fruit or in many other ways - infusions for example or possibly
some ingredient that has that flavor as part of its profile. For example, Allspice can be the
peppers themselves, allspice liqueur, a base spirit infused with allspice. It can also be the
combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (originally believed to form the flavor of
"allspice", hence its name) or it can come in the form of allspice-foam or an allspice garnish. Play
around with whatever seems right and experiment.
In one of our experiments we came up as a group with the Event Horizon cocktail, each taking
the resulting flavor matrix and translating it into completely different recipes that are all
expressions of that idea, this practice gives you great insights into the preferences of your fellow
bartenders as well. Be that a fruity, faux tropical styled drink where every item on the matrix is
an ingredient -
1.5oz El Dorado 12, 1.5oz Angostura 5, 1oz Surinam cherry liqueur, 1oz Pitanga liqueur, 1oz
Coconut water, 1oz Pineapple juice, 1oz lime juice, 0.5oz Green Chartreuse, 0.5oz Black
Cardamom, Star anise and Cocoa beans syrup. Shake, strain, garnish with all hell.
Or be that a heavier, more complex and less fruity/citrusy kind of drink -
0.75oz El Dorado 12 infused with Cocoa beans (already have plenty of coconut flavors), 0.75oz
Angostura 1919 infused with Black Cardamom, 0.25oz of each of the liqueurs, Green Chartreuse
rinsing of the glass, 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and a lime-peel as garnish, stir&strain.

17. Technique #6 - Abstract Context
An abstract idea, an emotion or specific experience can also ignite your inspiration and get your
process going. Choose an experience you've had or a familiar emotion and focus on its
components. What starts it? how does it feel? what do you sense when that experience hits
you?
Then look for ways to evoke those through the drinks' recipe and presentation.
Try these challenges for practice -
Create a cocktail that will make your guest laugh or cry, evoke a sense of euphoria or surprise or
find a way to get some tension as in a good mystery/detective story through your drink.
Attempt to recreate the sensation of dinner cooking, or the cozy warm feeling of staying under
the blankets on a cold winter evening, or the sensation you get when you enter a blooming
orchard surrounded by wonderful floral smells that get you drunk from freshness.
Examples:
Fresh Grass cocktail - literally meant to re-enact the feel and sensation of freshly cut grass
Muddle 3 cucumbers in a shaker tin, add 8 fresh sage leaves, 1.5oz G'Vine Floraison, 1oz Fresh
pear juice, 2tsp lemon juice, 0.5oz simple syrup. Shake, strain, add 0.5oz of spicy ginger beer, a
tsp of good quality olive oil and garnish with sage leaves.
Kofuku (Euphoria) - a part of an emotional-cocktail series, meant to evoke specific emotions.
Cocoa is known to contain Theobromine that is the active component causing the
chocolate-induced euphoria, along with the drinks' style – a nightcap meant to be had after a
long day of work, thus drank right at the point when all the days' troubles have washed away

18. already, and the garnish – a cigar, thus indicating a long and slow sipping and relaxing
experience, all of these elements combine to create a sense of end-of-the-day euphoria.
1.5oz Excellia Anejo tequila infused with cocoa beans and black cardamom, 0.75oz tawny port,
0.25oz Tempus Fugits' Creme de Cacao, one dash of each chocolate & orange bitters. Garnish
with a Hoyo de Monterrey no.2 cuban cigar and orange zest twist.