The Alchemist

The Bon Vivant

August 17, 2018 No Comments

The patio scene isn’t for everyone, including our man about town

In many ways, I’ve always been hilariously unsuited to Vancouver, despite having lived here for the best part of 20 years. While I enjoy observing nature from the distant vantage point of a high-rise apartment, actually venturing into it makes me anxious and irritated. I look upon the lifestyle cults surrounding yoga, spinning and clamshell salads—ostensibly expressions of joyful living, yet deadly serious—as if they were the Republic of Gilead.

But what situates me permanently at the fringe of the party that is this city (this beautiful, very expensive party) is my habitual response to the arrival of summer. When everyone else rushes hysterically into the streets, as if drawn by the promise of eternal youth and free poké bowls, I draw the blinds and cower until nightfall.

I don’t want to be this person, but I have no choice: I’m a ginger.

Bar Bites

Sipping Tofino

August 10, 2018 No Comments

Wolf in the Fog’s bar manager Hailey Pasemko. Wolf in the Fog photo

When you’re surrounded by wild bounty the way Tofino is, it only makes sense to use it however you can. And so Wolf in the Fog’s bar manager Hailey Pasemko transforms huckleberries into bitters, infuses gin with salal or spruce tips, and fat-washes vodka with salmon.

Now she’s looking beyond Tofino, to the great spirits being produced across B.C., for her new “Local Legends” cocktail program.

Bar Bites, Recipes

Locals Only Negroni

August 9, 2018 No Comments

Created by Wolf in the Fog bar manager Hailey Pasemko, this variation on the classic uses all B.C. products.

• 1 oz Sheringham Seaside Gin
• 1 oz Odd Society Bittersweet Vermouth
• 1 oz Legend Distilling Naramaro

Bar Bites

World class city

August 3, 2018 No Comments

Home Team cocktail. Photo courtesy of Chris Enns.

With Christopher Enns’ recent win in Montreal, that’s four times Vancouver bartenders have taken home the prestigious title of Diageo Reserve World Class Canada champion since the competition started in 2013.

Enns, who mans the shakers at the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Lobby Lounge, also recently won the Woodford Reserve Manhattan challenge in New York. “It’s been very busy, that’s for sure,” he says.

Now we’re all wondering: Will lightning strike again?

After all, last year’s World Class Canada winner, Kaitlyn Stewart of Vancouver’s Royal Dinette, went on to win the global competition, beating out 10,000 talented bartenders from more than 50 countries to do so.

Enns is already preparing for the world finals in Berlin this October. “We won’t get the lineup for a few months, but I’ll start researching Berlin and working within the seasonal produce,” he says.

It helps that he’s got a strong team of previous hometown winners helping him prepare, including his colleague, Grant Sceney, the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s creative beverage director and World Class Canada 2014 winner.

“I’m going to see a lot more of him than I do already,” Enns says with a laugh.

For more info, follow @WorldClassCa on Twitter, @WorldClassCanada on Instagram, use the hashtag #WorldClass or visit Facebook.com/WorldClassCanada.

Make Chris Enns’ winning cocktail, the Home Team.

Bar Bites, Recipes

Home Team

August 2, 2018 No Comments

Chris Enns prepared this cocktail for the World Class Canada 2018 national finals. “This drink came from the Wanderlust challenge where we came up with a cocktail inspired by both home and an away location,” he recalls. A twist on the Sazerac cocktail, the Home Team is inspired by the feeling of “home” he found at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, as well the home-team support among the World Class bartenders. Here it is served in a Scottish quaich cup; however, a chilled Old Fashioned or Sazerac-style glass would be fine.

Product Spotlight

Spotlight on Glenmorangie Spios

July 31, 2018 No Comments

For its ninth Private Edition series, the venerable Highland whisky house Glenmorangie has released its first single malt aged in American ex-rye whisky casks. In the late 1990s, Dr. Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie’s Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky, travelled to the United States, where he was inspired by the elegant cinnamon and clove notes of rye whisky. “I have always loved American rye whisky’s spicy character, and I believed our Distillery’s smooth house style would perfectly complement the nuances of ex-rye casks,” he says.

Recipes, The Alchemist

Elder Sour

July 30, 2018 No Comments

This refreshing cocktail recipe from Odd Society Spirits makes an ideal patio sipper.

INGREDIENTS:
• 1.5 oz Odd Society Elderflower Liqueur
• 1 oz Odd Society East Vancouver vodka
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.3 oz simple syrup
• 1 egg white or 1 dash of Ms. Betters Bitters Miraculous Foamer

The Alchemist

Odd Society releases elderflower liqueur

July 30, 2018 No Comments

Odd Society’s limited Elderflower Gin. Supplied photo.

Looking for something refreshing to enjoy this sultry summer weekend? Get yourself down to Odd Society Spirits and you could be one of the lucky few to enjoy their just-released Elderflower Liqueur.

Features

H Tasting Lounge takes flight

July 27, 2018 No Comments

Globally inspired cocktail program soars at the Westin Bayshore

Chiara Fung and Dylan Williams behind the bar at H Tasting Lounge. Dan Toulgoet photo

Bright, airy and colourful, with a contemporary design that embraces both mid-century and Art Deco motifs, H Tasting Lounge at The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, is certainly one of the city’s most elegant cocktail spaces.

But its beauty goes far beyond plush pastel furnishings and dramatic crystal chandeliers.

Recipes

La Gitana

July 25, 2018 No Comments

• 2oz The London No. 1 Gin
• 0.5oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
• 0.75oz Lemon Juice
• 0.5oz Pazzo Chow Lavender Tonic Syrup
• Egg white

Dry shake, then shake with ice. Serve neat in a coupe. Garnish with lavender.