Erlenmeyer flask

Erlenmeyer flask by pHenomenal Drinks made from heat-resistant laboratory glass

The Erlenmeyer flask from pHenomenal Drinks is a wide-neck flask made of laboratory glass with a scale, where you can measure out mineral water and stir in the syrup right away. No pitcher, no measuring cup, no second glass – everything is mixed and served in the same vessel.

The Erlenmeyer flask is the simplest tool in the assortment of the Hamburg-based manufacturer pHenomenal Drinks and has a capacity of 100 ml. The laboratory glass is heat-resistant and virtually indestructible, while the printed scale makes measuring a breeze. This is the exact amount of water needed for a long drink according to the company's five-to-one rule.

Wide neck, narrow cone, clear scale

The shape of the flask is not a design whim, but the result of a laboratory problem from the nineteenth century.

The body tapers towards the top so that nothing spills when swirling, and the wide neck still allows ice cubes or a spoon to fit inside. The glass can handle both heat and cold, so you can pour in hot water for a ginger infusion or chill it beforehand. Measuring 6 by 6 by 11 centimeters, it fits into any drawer. Heat-resistant, lightweight, and practical – a mixing vessel doesn't need to do much more than this.

The design is called wide-neck because the opening is significantly broader than in the flasks used for pouring in the laboratory. For the bar, this is the decisive difference, because that is the only way ice cubes, a lemon slice, and a spoon will fit inside at all.

Measure water, add syrup, stir briefly

The flask fully replaces a small tonic bottle and turns mixing your own drinks into a single step instead of a math problem.

Fill with 100 ml of well-chilled mineral water up to the marking, add 2 cl of syrup, and stir carefully – don't be too vigorous, or the carbonation will escape. Then pour everything over ice into your glass and add gin, vodka, or rum to taste.

If you don't want to measure the syrup with a spoon, you can use the glass doser with natural cork, which dispenses the exact amount needed. Both together with a bottle of organic ginger syrup make for a complete little mixing station.

Emil Erlenmeyer had other plans in 1860

The flask was designed by the German chemist Emil Erlenmeyer, who in 1860 was looking for a vessel in which liquids could be swirled without anything splashing out.

Since then, it has been in every laboratory in the world, and at some point, someone took it to the bar. "It fully replaces a small tonic bottle," says Hendrik about the flask, and that mentions its second purpose: Anyone who measures their water here no longer needs a disposable bottle for it.

On the bar counter, it looks like a foreign object from a chemistry classroom, which is exactly why it remains a conversation starter. You can find further tools for your home bar in the bar accessories section. School chemistry was rarely this sociable.