Checkmate with Paris air and sparkling champagne. Our last summer drink with an artist who has turned everything upside down. Santé!
MATTHIAS ULRICH, SCHIRN CURATOR
Which artist would you like to have a drink with on a warm summer evening?
Marcel Duchamp!
And where would you meet him?
At the open-air chess boards on the Lichtentaler Allee in Baden-Baden (Germany).
Which ingredient is essential for your drink?
“Paris Air” (the work by Duchamp), Wodka Gorbatschow, and a fruit with 11 letters.
PARIS AIR
Jens Seidl, guest bartender at Frankfurt’s Seven Svans & The Tiny Cup, is a specialist in forgotten classics and modern craft cocktails. He creates the perfect drink for every meeting. For the encounter with Marcel Duchamp he created the Vodka-induced “Paris Air”:
INGREDIENTS
40ml vodka
20ml fresh lemon juice
2 bar spoons of sugar
About 20 fresh blueberries
Champagne
PREPARATION
Crush the blueberries with the sugar and the lemon in a shaker and allow to stand for at least one minute. Add vodka and ice and shake thoroughly. Put a good splash of champagne in a champagne or pipe glass and double strain the cocktail on top of it. Express the oils of a lemon twist over the drink and smile.
Here I was given a task that was worthy of Duchamp – whoever paints a moustache on the Mona Lisa and is world-famous for a urinal deserves a drink made with Paris Air and a fruit with 11 letters! Also requested was vodka, a spirit that is not overly popular with many bartenders as it doesn’t carry much flavor, which actually helps given the light aroma of the blueberries. Unfortunately, Duchamp’s work “Paris Air” is unaffordable, but the most beautiful Paris air for me anyhow is the one that evaporates from champagne bubbles. Since it reminds me a little of the ampoule that Duchamp used to capture the Paris Air, I am serving this drink in a pipe glass (typically used for brandy or port).
