Cocktails! Brunch! Music! So much fun!

Vancouver Cocktail Week 2024 began and ended with the signature events you wouldn’t want to miss

Vancouver’s own Evelyn Chick dropped by from Toronto to chat about her new book and serve up her Green Haka Cooler at the Signature Sunday Cocktail Brunch. Gail Nugent photo

From seminars to neighbourhood crawls to cocktail-paired dinners and bar-star guest shifts, Vancouver Cocktail Week presented by The Alchemist has something for everyone who enjoys raising a glass or two. But the biggest, best, most unmissable parties are the signature events that open and close the week—and this year was no exception.

Continue Reading

Sipping, Dining and Learning at Vancouver Cocktail Week

The Baijiu seminar by Hope & Sesame co-founders Bastien Ciocca and Andrew Ho ran through the major styles of baijiu, and how to use it in cocktails. Charlene Rooke photo

The Seminars

Chinatown speakeasy Laowai opened its freezer-style door to an international cohort of bar colleagues, who gave daytime seminars recounting their personal journeys to world-class status, then held court in the evenings with guest shifts showcasing their creations.

On March 3, the co-founders of Chinese bar Hope & Sesame, hospitality school pals Bastien Ciocca and Andrew Ho, recounted their journey bringing the first speakeasy-style modern bar to southern China, in Guangzhou. Today, they have several bars plus a spirits consultancy (catering to the likes of Ralph Lauren’s hospitality group) in their mini-empire, ranging from café-fronted speakeasies to heritage-themed Chinese bars and elegant, tasting-menu cocktail flights. Their San You bars feature all-Chinese spirits and produce, a perfect segue to their brief session on baijiu, the Chinese spirit in which Laowai specializes (with 50-plus bottlings, the largest selection in Canada). Illustrated with bottlings from SinoCan agency, Ciocca and Ho ran through the major styles of baijiu, and how to use it in cocktails. Bartenders in the room took notes on creating split-base cocktail and using baijiu smartly, as in Hope & Sesame’s famous Moutai Milk Punch, a clarified cocktail with Black Forest Cake flavours, served later that night of Laowai.

Vincente Gutierrez and Oscar Blanco of Madrid’s Salmon Guru gave a talk on the bar’s current Reset: a total configuration of the menu and drinks concept. Charlene Rooke photo

On March 6, in their khaki military-style jackets, Vincente Gutierrez and Oscar Blanco served as lieutenants for Salmon Guru founder Diego Cabrera. Their lively presentation captured the neon, rock-and-roll spirit of the pioneering Madrid bar, and the subject of the talk was the bar’s current Reset: a total configuration of the menu and drinks concept. The two recounted previous incarnations of the menu, from one featuring VR-generated menu animations and wacky dragon- and beetle-shaped serving vessels to today’s internationally informed concept, guided by the team’s travels and collaborations around the globe. Several of their bars feature drink-serving, counter-height “hubs” versus traditional bar-height perches that hide away some of the bartenders’ work, and feature fancy back bars of bottles. The two explained how it provides more intimate hospitality and service, and divides the energy around a room, rather than just focusing it at a few seats at the bar. To complement the modern — an ice room for cutting their own clear cubes and spheres to Guru Lab where Cabrera can often be found concocting new ingredients and potions — they also run Viva Madrid, and 1856 café reinvented for modern times (with Dark Side speakeasy above), where mostly local guests “elbow up to the bar” for coffee, beer, sherry, tapas and more.

The Tastings

Carlino hosted a European Vermouth tasting, led by UVIC’s Dr. John Volpe. Charlene Rooke photo

On March 5, Carlino hosted a European vermouth tasting, featuring bottles by Cesconi in Italy, Kir-Yianni in Greece and Spain’s Valminor, seen in some of Vancouver’s fine restaurants and bars. University of Victoria professor Dr. John Volpe hit just the right note between nerdy and academic, challenging a room of seasoned palates to taste three white and three red vermouths, matching them to a list of key flavour and eventually identifying their countries of origin. He recounted the medicinal history of vermouth, originally a flavoured wine using herbs and botanicals with powerful homeopathic qualities, namely the bittering agent wormwood (currently being studied as a potential treatment and cure in modern medicine, he noted). Lynx Italian vermouths were lush and rich; Spanish Entroido bottlings were perfectly balanced between tart and botanically bright; and Greek Veroni red and white vermouths were wildly herbaceous and complex. Though some bartenders in the room were no-doubt formulating cocktail inspiration, these vermouths were lovely enough to drink on their own, and shone in cocktails paired with an Italian-inspired Carlino lunch.

James Neil led an industry-only tasting of top Bowmore bottlings at the Gerard Lounge. Charlene Rooke photo

On March 6, Beam-Suntory international whisky brand ambassador James Neil hosted an intimate group of invitees to the Gerard Lounge for a tasting of top bottlings. He introduced the latest, third edition of the Bowmore x Aston Martin Master’s Selection 22-year-old bottlings with a multisensory tasting using sound, smell and taste to profile the delectably chocolately, peppery and slightly maritime-salty dram. A display of fruit, spices and other flavours challenged guests to identify them in the key range of Bowmore bottlings. Other treats awaited on the bar, such as a Bowmore 29, a past edition of Bowmore Master’s Selection and a decadent bottle of the latest Legent, American bourbon blended with Japanese elegance: in this case, using sherry-heavy casks from Yamazaki.

The Dinners

The Omakase Experience at AMA, a cocktail and raw bar, featured dishes paired with Kujira whisky. Charlene Rooke photo

On March 5, relative newcomer AMA (a cocktail and raw bar unexpectedly located above Nammo’s Greek restaurant on the Drive) showcased both its kitchen and bar at a spectacular Omakase experience, with Kujira whisky. Made from rice rather than barley or other cereal grains, Kujira pairs beautifully with the fresh and playful cuisine at AMA. An appetizer of Hamachi and tobiko sandwiched in rice wafers was the perfect bar bite to accompany a lemon-mint infused sake. Delicately fatty cuts of bluefin were beautifully balanced with a Kujira 10-year-old whisky matured in bourbon barrels, its sharp and peppery notes enhanced with chili-infused sake and citrus foam. Grilled Kurobuta pork chop found its match in a peaty, mirin and soy-kissed sour with Kujira 5-year-old.

An Undergrowth cocktail (reposado, candy-cap mushroom, maple, tea), paired with olive-oil poached snails with kombu and sunchokes. Charlene Rooke photo

On March 5, the female-powered Bar Swift swept in from London to Botanist for a cocktail pairing dinner featuring both bars swapping courses and flavours with chef Hector Laguna. Botanist’s hot pairings included Undergrowth (tequila with candy-cap mushroom, sherry, maple and black tea) with a creamy pot of olive-oil poached snails with kombu and sunchokes; and a coconutty lobster tom yum, paired with a gin, coconut water, spice and lemon Coco-Nuts. Swift’s signature rough-hewn, hand-carved ice chilled drinks like a rosé aperitivo, tequila, Campari and prune-liqueur Desert Rose (paired with grilled tenderloin). Swift’s Droplet was a refreshing lime sherbet, gin, akvavit concoction that perfectly offset flavours of charred amberjack with black truffles.

—by Charlene Rooke

The Legacy of Julie Reiner

Raise an International Women’s Day toast to the Drink Masters bar star who inspired a generation of women in the drinks industry

Julie Reiner is a key player in the rebirth of American cocktail culture and an industry mentor. Daniel Krieger photo

Some of us encountered Reiner two decades ago, as the smiling face behind the curved bar at Flatiron Lounge, the first of her pioneering New York craft cocktail bars. Others know the transplanted Hawaiian from her now-shuttered tropical bar Lani Kai or perhaps Pegu Club, which she owned with fellow trailblazer Audrey Saunders. Many others have tippled at Brooklyn’s long-running Clover Club, or at her joyful revamp of vintage Soho bar Milady’s (both which placed on the North America’s Best Bars 2023 list) in Brooklyn.

Yet more fans met her as the voice-of-reason judge on Netflix’s debut 2022 season of Drink Masters (a second season is in the works). Along the way, she became a key player in the rebirth of American cocktail culture and a mentor to its next generation of stars.

I caught up with Reiner recently when her bars popped up for guest shifts at Kimpton Seafire’s Library by the Sea bar on Grand Cayman earlier this year. Reiner and her team gave an inspiring industry talk about mentorship, collaboration and creativity. She unpacked her impactful career while dishing out snacktail-sized Clover Clubs, a drink she helped popularize in the modern age.

Continue Reading

Great world bars we love: The Elephant Room

The Elephant Room’s founder Yugnes Susela leads a team that regularly swaps roles to keep things fresh.

In a city with no shortage of conspicuous cocktail bars, it’s refreshing to see a small, independent establishment gain serious attention. Such is the case with Singapore’s Elephant Room, which made an impressive debut on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ extended list, coming in at number 64. A self-described “culture-forward” bar, The Elephant Room is a staunch ambassador for everything India and has been showcasing the diverse flavours, colours and stories of the world’s second-most populous country, by way of Singapore’s Little India.

Continue Reading

New 70’s ‘love motel’-inspired cocktail bar with snacks opening in Vancouver

An exciting project from a Michelin-starred team is about to debut

Meo is a new cocktail bar with snacks opening in February 2024 in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The project comes from the team behind Michelin-starred Kissa Tanto, which happens to be located right above the new nighttime venue.Left: Ian Lanterman/Right: Mark Yammine. Images courtesy Meo

The crew behind some of Vancouver’s most acclaimed – and sexy – restaurant concepts is at it again, this time revealing plans to launch an intimate cocktail and snack bar just steps away from their one Michelin-starred spot.

Continue Reading

Cheers to the VCW community

Vancouver Cocktail Week features events for everyone, in support of the city’s hospitality industry

Vancouver’s Kaitlyn Stewart was the World Class Global Bartender of the Year in 2017. Living Room Creative photo

Unlike some boozy events, Vancouver Cocktail Week isn’t just a big party (though it offers plenty of opportunities to raise a glass and get your ya-yas out). And unlike other boozy events, it’s not a trade show where you wander from booth to booth sampling wee sips of things (though it does feature loads of exciting new spirits, bitters and cocktails to taste and try).

What Vancouver Cocktail Week is, is a celebration of community, and not just the community of talented bartenders and industry professionals in this city. It’s also a celebration of you, the guests they serve, the whole reason the industry exists in the first place.

That’s why VCW events take place, not in a convention hall, but in the bars and restaurants where the city’s best bartenders can show you what they do best.

And it’s also why VCW24 has something for everyone, whether you are only just discovering cocktails or want to add to your collection of recipes for your next dinner party, expand your knowledge as an industry professional or simply enjoy a fun night out on the town.

Here are just some of the exciting experiences you can discover at VCW24, March 3 to 10.

Continue Reading

Grilled Pineapple Sour

Joel Virginillo photo

The Grilled Pineapple Sour takes you to the tropics with its combination of the smoky sweetness of grilled pineapple, the complexity of tequila and the tartness of fresh citrus juice.

1oz Herradura Ultra

1oz fresh lime juice

1oz fresh lemon juice

1oz grilled Pineapple Syrup

2 dashes Aromatic bitters

1 egg white (or vegan foamer)

Continue Reading

Alberta whisky named Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year

The win marks an exciting shift in small-scale distilling across the country

The Fort Distillery’s Mountain Pass Whisky is the 2024 Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year. Photo courtesy Artisan Distillers Canada

After seven years of domination by B.C. and Ontario, an Alberta distillery has taken home the top prize at the 2024 Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition.

In a series of blind tastings, a cross-Canada panel of judges selected The Fort Distillery‘s Mountain Pass Whisky as the Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year. The Fort Saskatchewan distillery prevailed over more than 80 small-scale spirits producers from 10 provinces and territories, who entered nearly 300 products in the competition; its whisky was only the second ever to win CASC’s top award.

Continue Reading

Where to Drink Right Now on Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman is a Canadian-favourite winter destination. Photo courtesy Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa.

This expat-filled, Canadian-favourite winter destination is planting a flag on the world-class bar map. With pretty perfect daily weather and literally a Seven Mile Beach to enjoy during the day, and plenty of sunset and nightlife spots, there’s no need to wait until Cayman Cocktail Week (an annual festival, in the last week of October) to visit.

Continue Reading
1 2 3 98