Should you smoke the glass or the cocktail?

Lifting the cloche at the Giamaio bar. · Giamaio

The vermouth is measured, the drink is stirred, and the first taste is right. Now you can scent the empty glass before pouring, or cover the finished cocktail with a cloche. Try smelling at the rim, taking a sip, then returning for a second one. Each gesture gives you a different opportunity to notice the smoke.

Choose the empty glass when you want an aromatic welcome. Choose the finished drink when you want to lift the cloche at the table. A large visible cloud is a poor measure of what will linger on the palate.

Start with the glass for the first aroma

Mix the drink and have it ready to pour. Following your smoker’s manual, use food-grade chips to introduce a little smoke into the empty glass. Cover the opening, switch off the device, then uncover and pour. Keep the ignition flame away from spirits and bottles.

Pick a drink you know, such as an Old Fashioned. Bring the rim to your nose without swirling. Can you still pick out the orange peel? Come back after a minute and taste again, once the visible cloud has cleared.

Use the cloche for a tableside finish

Set the finished drink on a flat base. Use a cloche tall enough to clear the garnish. Introduce a little smoke, remove the hose and switch off the smoker. Lift the cover as you serve. If wood is the only thing you taste, shorten contact on the next glass before changing the recipe.

Ice still melts under a cloche. Comparing a drink left waiting against a freshly poured one makes dilution part of the experiment. Split a single mixture and serve both portions over the same kind of ice.

Try a two-glass tasting

Pour two portions from the same mixture. Scent the first glass while empty and treat the second once it is filled. Keep the wood the same. Note the first aroma, the ingredient you recognise on the palate and how long the wood lingers. If both portions taste too smoky, repeat with a lighter pass.

Giamaio’s Aviation delle Alpi uses both gestures. Olive wood scents the coupe before straining and returns in a brief finishing pass. The free recipe gives the quantities and the course preview shows the handling at the bar.