It all started when a family business didn’t live up to expectations, leaving the family with a facility for creating canned beverages and the need for a new idea.

“Let’s make the drinks we want to drink.”

Owner of Gradient Beverages, John Eresman, describes how the company came to create their Inversion Nitro Cocktails. Their first drink, Sunday Session, was inspired by days on the golf course and their next drink, a whisky sour, is Eresman’s favourite. The classic cocktail can be a pain to make, and dealing with egg whites and constantly cutting lemons can lead to chaos. If you have people over for the evening, it can become next to impossible to create and serve these drinks for everyone without hiring a professional bartender!

In comes the nitrogen infuser. “We thought it might be possible to put a heavy dose into it and get the foam of a whisky sour,” says Eresman. It took about a year to develop the cocktail, and there were a lot of nuances to figure out. “We want a no-compromise cocktail,” says Eresman. “We use real ingredients. The only thing that’s missing is the egg white, but we’ve replicated the egg white experience.”

The nitrogen-infusion creates the foam experience – think a Guinness or nitro brew coffee. A carbon dioxide bubble, like those found in carbonated drinks, is large. You can feel it pop on your tongue. But a nitrogen bubble is quite small, and enough of them give you that creamy feeling you’d expect from an egg white in a drink. It gives the experience of a shaken cocktail.

Other fantastic cocktails in the lineup include the Elderflower Gin Sour: “It’s sour and floral and sweet in perfect balance. It has a beautiful purple colour to it – similar to what they use in an Empress Gin. It’s a showstopper. It just looks gorgeous.” The Classic Margarita is a no-compromise cocktail that actually tastes like a margarita, while the Passionfruit Mai Tai is inspired by family trips to Maui, and it tastes like a vacation to the island in the sun. There’s also a non-alcoholic version of the Elderflower Gin Sour.

To replicate the texture of the cocktail, these drinks need to be shaken hard and poured hard. “You have to shake until you don’t feel the liquid sloshing around anymore, and then you pour it hard.” This traps the nitrogen bubbles in the drink, giving it that creamy texture.

If you’re looking to try one of these award-winning cocktails, visit the website to see where they sell near you. You can also try a bartender’s box, which is a nice introduction to all four of the flavours. It’s a great way to sample and also a great way to host, making sure you have a variety of drinks so there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Cheers!