In the early 2000s, foam was all the rage. As molecular gastronomy took hold of the culinary world, foaming everything from asparagus to foie gras, it was only natural for the trend to find its way into the drinks space. And there was one tool pros gravitated to most to achieve the lifted look: the iSi Gourmet Whip.
The whipper — which rapidly infuses flavors and dispenses them through a nitrous oxide chamber — produces foams chefs and mixologists alike can use in everything from whipped creams, batters, soups, and, of course, cocktail toppers. At first, it was revelatory, but as the trend continued throughout the aughts, foam-topped cocktails and dishes appeared on menus nationwide. It didn’t take long for foam to be deemed a cliché, with some even arguing that the technique became a crutch or a means of virtue signaling. But in recent years, foam has found its place in the bar world once more.
In the past couple of years, fluffy drinks have rediscovered their home behind the bar. More often than not, it’s a labor of love getting that foam into their glasses; but not if they have the iSi, which has proven to be a valuable part of the bartender’s arsenal again.
Unlike the layer of foam that appears atop Ramos Gin Fizzes and other egg white cocktails, which often require minutes of shaking to achieve, the froth that emerges from the iSi whipper is more akin to a whipped cream than soft suds. This is because the N2O canister itself must be charged before anything can be extracted from the canister. The more times the siphon is charged, the thicker the foam. The tool also gives bartenders more room to experiment with flavors. They simply have to add the desired ingredients to the bottle, shake vigorously, and fire away.
Given the ease of preparation and flavor possibilities, it’s no real shock that the tool is popular with the bartending community, especially when considering the public’s current thirst for foamy drinks.
In Jersey City, Maxwell Alley serves up an iSi-assisted cocktail in the form of the India Pale Cocktail. Designed to taste just like a hazy IPA, it’s made with hop-infused gin, acid-adjusted tropical juices, grapefruit oleo saccharum, and a hop-infused foam that sits atop the concoction.
“I’m a fan of the iSi whipper because of how easy it is to use,” explains Matt Colvin, Maxwell Alley’s beverage director and the India Pale Cocktail’s creator. “I can control the flow and consistency of my foams easily.”
Across the Hudson at NYC’s Experimental Cocktail Club, head bartender Nathalie Durrieu developed a cold foam coffee cocktail featuring black sesame and charred oats, vodka, and Mr Black coffee liqueur. Dubbed the Milk Money, the star of the cocktail is the salted, condensed foam that gets topped with a layer of black salt.
Infatuation with the tool has made its way to social media as well, with creators like Evie Negri-Albert (@drinksbyevie on Instagram and TikTok) and Lance Wong (@moresavorygoods) providing tutorials for how to create various foams at home using the whipper. Wong has even taken things one step further by replicating some bars’ iSi cold foam cocktails at home, like the Orange Foam + Vermouth cocktail served at Greenpoint’s Bar Americano.
So while the iSi Gourmet Whip may have been considered out of vogue (or even a crutch), what’s “old” can always be made new again. “The end product is what makes a cocktail ‘cool,’” Colvin says. “Consistency is more important to me than worrying about a particular piece of equipment being on-trend. Especially if that tool makes our job easier.”
