The Bar Lab

We have collected recent menus from 100 of the world's best bars, according to the most recent rankings from The World's 50 Best. This list provides a great collection of innovative bars, however it doesn't provide extensive coverage across every region of the world. Flavonomics plans to collect a more extensive list of bars so we can provide more robust insights about the geographic trends in the use of flavour. We are also building a database that goes further back in time to capture trends over time.

The synergy scores between ingredients calculate how strong the affinities are between the flavour facets of the ingredients. The affinity scores are a measure of association between flavour facets. We calculate how often flavours appear together in cocktails, adjusted by how common each flavour facet is. This indicates the strength of association between the facets. In other words, how much more likely are we to see Flavour Facet 3 among cocktails that contain Facet 1 and Facet 2. The more strong flavour affinities that ingredients share, the greater their synergy. These scores are not a definitive answer on whether a combination works, but a simple observation based on the data we observe.

We model the flavour of each ingredient by analysing thousands of sources, including recipe books, tasting notes, restaurant menus, and food & drink reporting. We find patterns in how they describe flavour and map those descriptions against 150 distinct flavour notes, from smoky to floral to citric, building up a detailed picture of how an ingredient actually tastes based on the collective experience of thousands of cooks and writers. The profiles are then refined by our Flavour Society members, who can adjust anything that doesn't ring true to their own palate. Further details about our modelling method can be found at Flavonomics | Methods.