Some drinkers like their cocktails mixed, blended or served straight up, but scientists have created a way to lift spirits, bringing new meaning to drinking up. Using sound waves, British scientist created the world's first levitating cocktail machine, which allows alcohol drinkers to sip the floating cocktail in mid-air.
Culinary inventor Charlie Harry Francis and his Lick Me I'm Delicious lab partnered with Bristol University ultrasonic expert Bruce Drinkwater to serve up an anti-gravity, floating cocktail.
Francis is known for his edible bacon, zero-calorie mists and glow in the dark ice cream. He and Drinkwater collaborated to develop the Levitron. which uses sonic waves to create a levitating field that traps the tiny droplets of alcohol, causing them to float mid-air.
"The Levitron uses very powerful sound waves in the ultrasonic spectrum which crucially are beyond the range of human hearing, otherwise it would seriously damage your ears when the machine was switched on," Drinkwater says.
The Levitron takes two hours to set up and costs way more than the typical bar tab at $48,000.
There is no need for glasses when it comes to sipping on levitated cocktails, but the mid-air drinks could be just as strong as classic bar cocktails. Only four droplets are enough to get drunk. "It has to be strong because it is such small quantities of alcohol," Francis says. "So far we have made a levitating gin and tonic at 70 per cent proof and a levitating Bloody Mary cocktail using vodka at 160 per cent proof which will blow your socks off."
Creating the Levitron is just the first step towards a larger goal to create cutlery that doesn't need contact with the aim to float an entire meal into someone's mouth.
Francis' Lick Me I'm Delicious lab is currently creating levitated popcorn whirlwind storms, a jellybean waterfall and an edible aftershave.
