The All In & Wright is a play on a root beer float in particular an A&W Root Beer Float, most likely the most famous of root beer floats in North America. A&W stand for Allen & Wright, the founders so now you see the tongue and cheek tie in.

In a previous article I showed the flavor map for cocktail and how we came to the finality of the drink. It's a simple drink once the prep work is done (a weekly chore to make all the syrups), it's tasty and complex with your tongue and head trying to figure out the flavors bouncing about.

The soda is pretty self explanatory, a vanilla syrup cut with water and then gassed. The flavored ice cubes are something that we have rotating on the menu and we have dialed in the melting points of them to work in our favor as much as possible. Adding a syrup to your ice cubes reduces the melting temp considerably which helps them add the desired flavor to the drink quicker than being a super solid cold cube. The only drawback to this is that it will add sweetness to the drink as it melts, so balancing the drink in the beginning so that it is still balanced in a different direction by the end of the drink is the only challenge. But a rewarding one at that.

Other than those two ingredients, the rest of the drink is a pretty standard highballesque drink. We are lucky in Victoria that we have a well stocked herb store that has a wall of ingredients that are listed on display for anyone to pick up. Online stores stock a lot of these as well.

The final ingredient is the garnish, the Dehydrated Milk Foam. Basically a dehydrated mix of sugar, milk and a special, secret ingredient that I can't mention. The finished product is reminiscent of a milk flavored Aero Bar.

Get transported back to your childhood with this one.

All In & Wright

1 1/2 oz Lot 40

1/2 oz Pimm's

1/2 oz A&W Shrub

Top with Vanilla Soda


Glass - Vintage Highball

Method - Build over Sassafras Ice Cubes

Garnish - Milk Foam


Sassafras Ice Cubes

1000g white sugar

1000g water

50g Sassafras

  • place all ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil.
  • mix 150mL of syrup with 850mL of water and freeze

Vanilla Syrup & Soda

1000g White Sugar

750g water

2 vanilla beans

  • Split vanilla beans
  • Place all ingredients in a saucepan on low heat and dissolve.
  • Cover & let stand for 24 hours
  • Bottle with vanilla bean in liquid

To make soda

  • Mix 150mL of syrup with 850mL water
  • fill soda siphon half way and gas with 1 n2o & co2 charge.

A&W Shrub

1000g Turbinado

500g water

5.5g wintergreen

2.5g sasparilla root

2.7g birch bark

5g burdock

1g powdered ginger

5g cinnamon

5g licorice root

1g nutmeg

240mL Brown Rice Vinegar

  • bring to a boil for 5 mins and simmer for 15mins.