Cocktail Recipe: Occam’s Razor

There is no greater bond than that between the world’s most exalted thinkers and their tipple of choice. Would For Whom the Bell Tolls have taken its place among the canon of seminal literature had Ernie not so enthusiastically supped? Would Winston Churchill have won the Nobel Prize in Literature had he fixed himself a stiff afternoon tea instead of a whisky? Could Edgar Allan Poe have spawned generations of teenage Goths were it not for his ardour for absinthe? After all, alcohol is known for its mind-expanding qualities: we are all at our wisest after a few pints, no? Alban Hajdini, head barman at The Natural Philosopher, certainly had his thinking cap on when he created the delightfully monikered Occam’s Razor, a punchy cocktail sure to awaken the most enlightened philosopher in all who try it. Named for the leading principle of English philosopher and theologian William of Ockham (1287–1347) – which can be summed up as “Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected” – Occam’s Razor is a complex concoction of sweet and savoury notes; of light, fruity moments underpinned with dark, earthy tones, atop a sea of shimmering lime and punchy rum. “We wanted to develop a summery cocktail using rum as the base,” explains Hajdini, “but rather than go for a classic sweet, sour or bitter profile that most cocktails adhere to, we wanted to try something fresh and savoury.” This savoury accent comes from a curious and startlingly flavourful interplay between musky, almost medicinal sage and sweet, sticky, zingy pineapple, swaddled in silvery smoke. “The freshness of the pineapple compliments the sage and the smoky notes, while the pepper adds a bit of spice,” says Hajdini. And if home-smoking a pineapple for three days just to fashion yourself a drink seems excessive, just remember what Nietzsche once said: “For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.”