The funnest thing about cocktail making is when two completely opposite flavours combine to make something new. The chemistry of smell and taste has always fascinated me. It’s what made me curious as a kid, and keeps me tasting and trying today. To explore this realm is like diving into the unknown, because there are an infinite number of molecules in the Universe that we haven’t yet discovered. I’ve always wondered what moon dust smells like, or how different snow in the north pole tastes in comparison to the south pole.

I had a great lecturer back when I went to art school who taught me to be fascinated with our unseen world. His name was David Haines. He and his collaborator Joyce Hinterding made artworks like replicating the smell of a specific spot on the Parramatta river, and just before a thunderstorm where the sun interacts with the air. You know that ozone-y smell? It’s something we’re mostly all familiar with. Picture them presented in perfume bottles and sprayed on sample cards that are usually handed out at shopping malls. I came out of it all bright eyed and bushy tailed to try as many things as I could, so I thank people like David who inspired me to be wildly curious.

Curiosity lead me to Northern Japan on a little expedition to see how it has embraced change. Things like The Barn by Odin have sprouted, and although some tourist hotspots have become transient places, where locals used to keep to themselves and do what generations before them did, I suppose change is inevitable but some good things come with it too.

This leads me to my latest post for Vogue Australia, where I asked a flavour magician to muster up some bangers. Read it here.