Get drunk to the eyeballs but there’s not a drop to drink in the alcohol vapour bar
A BRISBANE show director has defended his decision to present a vapour cloud of gin and tonic that guests can absorb through their eyes and lungs.
Health experts have criticised the attraction, which will form part of the Fear & Delight dinner and stage show at the Brisbane Festival from Saturday until September 21.
The show’s director, Scott Maidment, says the gin and tonic cloud was intended to be a stimulating experience for the senses, rather than a new way to get drunk.
“It’s also about tasting the juniper berries and things like that that are in gin and tonic,” Mr Maidment told AAP.
“It’s actually healthier for you they say, because it’s not affecting your liver.” Mr Maidment said the mist’s creator, UK-based culinary architects Bompas and Parr, had biochemists and respiratory experts from the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine calibrate the ratio of alcohol to mixer.
He said people would have to stand in the cloud room for 40 minutes to absorb the equivalent of a large gin and tonic, but people wouldn’t be in there for that long.
Mr Maitland said no patrons at Bompas and Parr’s permanent vapour bar in London or a similar one set up recently at Fear & Delight’s Adelaide show had any complaints.
But the reassurances haven’t convinced health experts like the University of Queensland’s Drug Research and Education Centre’s director, Professor Jake Najman.
He insisted too little was known about the health effects of breathing in alcohol.
“It’s not a good idea because what you’re doing is you’re inhaling and rapidly absorbing a toxic chemical, which is carcinogenic,” he said.
The Fear & Delight show will include other questionable aspects designed to shock, including food being served in buckets, tomato consomme presented in a syringe and a stage performer wearing a noose around his neck attached to helium balloons.
“It allows us to look at culinary experiences and things that we might be afraid of and transforms them into delight,” Brisbane Festival Artistic Director David Berthold said.
OVERNIGHT: A FUTURISTIC Brisbane bar where alcohol is absorbed directly into the bloodstream has been branded “incredibly dangerous” by medical experts.
The South Bank attraction, part of the Brisbane Festival, is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
The specially operated chamber will see alcoholic vapour from a gin and tonic pumped into the air where it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the eyeballs, mucus membranes and lungs, bypassing the liver. One 40-minute session is the equivalent of a large drink.
The brains behind the idea is UK design team Bompas & Parr. Their first so-called “cloud” bar, Alcoholic Architecture, opened in London in July. They claim inhaling alcohol eliminates hangovers and cuts calories by up to 40 per cent.
But the concept is causing concern among health professionals, who believe the side effects could be deadly.
Professor Jake Najman, director of the University of Queensland’s Alcohol and Drug Research and Eduction Centre, said people should think carefully before inhaling a cancer-causing substance.
“Four-and-a-half thousand Australians die each year as a consequence of using alcohol, and my first thought is that this cloud bar sounds terribly dangerous,” he said.
“Alcohol is a toxic chemical and is known to destroy brain cells; you might as well just run into a brick wall.
“I’m amazed at what young people are prepared to do to themselves.”
Brisbane psychologist Brenton Harris, who works with alcoholics, also has reservations.
“The worry is that people could have had a few normal drinks before entering the cloud bar and then inhaling alcohol could increase their intoxication level,” he said.
Before entering the ‘cloud’, which looks like a shipping container, drinkers will be asked to don special suits to protect them against powerful humidifiers used to ‘super saturate’ the air with alcoholic vapour.
Harry Parr, from Bompas and Parr, said the bar’s humidity levels of 140 per cent enhanced “flavour perception.”
“We are going for maximal intensity of cocktail experience,” he said.
“With every breath you take, notice a fresh botanical or flavour in the spirit that can be hard to discern in a regular drink.”
The attraction is part of the Brisbane Festival’s Fear and Delight show, running from September 5 to 25. The bar will only be open for that period.
Patrons are able to use the vapour bar before and after the hourlong show, as part of their ticket price, for a maximum of 40 minutes at a time.
They will not be allowed to drink alcohol inside the “cloud’’.
Scott Maidment, Fear and Delight’s director, said staff positioned outside the bar would ensure people did not spend too long inside.
“This is extremely safe,” he said.
“Chemists and biotechnicians have been working on this for the last couple of years.”
Maddi Sparks, 24, said she was looking forward to her first vaporised G & T.
“It sounds super futuristic and not something I want to miss out on.’’
AMA Queensland declined to comment. The attraction is part of the festival, running from September 5 to 25.
Source: The Australian / The Courier-Mail / AAP, Hannah-Davies, 2nd September 2015
Originally published as: Get drunk to the eyeballs but there’s not a drop to drink in the alcohol vapour bar
