How it tastes
The first sip reads as gin, but with edges that gin doesn't have on its own. The mezcal is a rumour rather than a presence: you don't taste smoke, but the gin gets a faintly mineral, almost desert-rock quality. The maraschino adds a high cherry note that the cocktail uses for lift. The Cointreau is structural. The saline rounds the bitter edge. The quinine is the reason the drink keeps changing as you sip. Each part is in service of an overall feeling rather than a recognisable flavour.
Why we built it
Tesseract started as an attempt to build a martini with more dimensions, hence the name (a four-dimensional analogue of a cube). The mezcal ratio took us months to land on. Too much and the drink reads as a smoky margarita variant. Too little and it doesn't do anything. A teaspoon turned out to be the answer, but only with a particular espadín mezcal that runs more vegetal than smoky.
Where to drink it
On request at Dissolved Solids in Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya. We don't put this on the printed list because it benefits from a brief explanation at the bar. Ask the bartender. Reserve a table for the easiest seat.