The Pacific Northwest tour continues, this time stopping by Vessel in Seattle. They have a prototype of the Perlini carbonator, and it allowed us to have some fun playing "What Can We Carbonate?" Here are some lessons learned:

Carbonated Fernet is delicious

The addition of effervescence changes the texture of the Fernet while still keeping its distinct flavor. Perhaps it's time to try and find out just how much soda water I can add to replicate the effect.

You can carbonate rum and domaine de canton to make a dark 'n stormy.

And wouldn't you know it, it doesn't suck.

You can carbonate an inexpensive pinot gris to turn it into a facsimile of a fantastic champagne

You can perform miracles, turning wine into, well, better wine. Bartender Jim Romdall showed how the Perlini could take a very ordinary white wine and turn it into a very exemplary sparkling wine. In particular, the new bubbly had a really interesting nose that belied it's humble origins.

Carbonating Ramazzotti yields Diet Coke

I always described Ramazzotti as a slightly bitter flat cola. Running it through the carbonator just makes it a slightly bitter cola.

I was surprised to hear how relatively inexpensive the Perlini system was, and I'm certainly looking forward to at least playing with the home version sometime in the near future.