Recipe courtesy of Bodega on Main
• 2 oz Rum Blend
• 1 oz Coconut Syrup
• 0.5 oz Lime
• 0.5 oz Passionfruit Purée
• 0.5 oz Pineapple Juice
Lamento
The Martini
The murky past of a clear favourite
Plenty a tall tale has crossed the polished oak; after all, bartenders like to dish out lively anecdotes along with the gin and spiced nuts. But when it comes to boozy myths, legends, outright lies and wholesale whoppers, “more cling to the Martini than any other cocktail.”
So writes Robert Simonson in his IACP-nominated book The Martini Cocktail (Ten Speed Press). He is fascinated by the outsize role the Martini has played in popular culture ever since its invention in 1849, or maybe it was the 1880s, or possibly 1906, who knows?
Turf Cocktail
The Turf Cocktail emerged around the same time as the Martini, and some believe it was an early version of it (not likely, but you never know).
• 1.5 oz Plymouth gin
• 1.5 oz dry vermouth, preferably Noilly Prat
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 2 dashes maraschino liqueur
• 2 dashes absinthe
• Garnish: olive
Martini
The classic, as it has evolved over more than a century of opinionated drinking.
• 2.5 oz London dry gin
• 0.25 to 0.5 oz dry vermouth
• Garnish: lemon peel twist or olives
From necessity, transformation
In our new column, Kelowna bartender Harry Dosanj reveals how his unlikely career was born
Harry Dosanj is a multiple-award-winning bartender who has twice ranked among Canada’s best bartenders in the Diageo World Class competition. His accomplishments are especially impressive given that before moving to Canada from Southampton, England, with his family in 2009, his interest in alcohol didn’t extend beyond an occasional beer. Here, Dosanj—who recently celebrated his second anniversary at Kelowna’s Hotel Eldorado—shares the story of his unlikely entry into the bartending profession.
Secret Life of the Limbless Pirate
This tiki-inspired cocktail is made with JT’s Hula Bitters.
• 1.5 oz amber rum
• 0.5 oz Fernet Branca
• 0.25 oz JT’s Hula Bitters
• 0.5 oz cherry grenadine
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• 0.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 oz soda water
• Garnish: maraschino or brandied cherry and mint leaves
Cosmosis
A bright and fruity cocktail that uses JT’s Orange and Chamomile Bitters
• 1.5 oz vodka
• 0.5 oz Cointreau
• 0.25 oz JT’s Orange & Chamomile Bitters
• 0.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 0.25 oz simple syrup
• 5 frozen cranberries, thawed
• Garnish: fresh orange peel
Better with bitters
Add your own unique flavour to cocktails with homemade bitters. Here’s how
Making your own bitters at home is a lot easier than you may think. However, we need to understand a few things first. Cocktails, by definition, are made up of four essential ingredients: spirits, sugar, water and bitters. Spirits are self-explanatory. The sugar and water elements can be exactly that or they can take on other forms, such as syrups and juices. Bitters are much more complex, though. Bartenders use bitters to bridge the flavours of spirits, sugar and water so they come together. The key to selecting the right bitter is to use one that complements the other three components in the cocktail.
2010
Looking back at the year that changed Vancouver’s cocktail culture
When Vancouverites look back at 2010, we think of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, a rain-soaked Wayne Gretzky and all those red mittens. But the really big news that year could be found at the bottom of a cocktail glass.
Proper cocktail bars were finally opening all over town. Global spirits brand reps started showing up to dole out samples. The organizers of Tales of the Cocktail reached out to see if Vancouver would be a good site for Tales on Tour. (Spoiler alert: Yes, in 2011 and 2012.) And Imbibe magazine discovered “a Galapagos of mixology, a place where cocktails have evolved independently from the rest of the drinking world.”
Ten years later, we revisit the year that changed the city’s cocktail culture.
Zero-sum game
Don’t call them mocktails: #spiritfree and #placebo drinks are a growing wellness trend
It gathered speed last year with Sober October before the holiday rush. After ringing in 2020, the trend was undeniable: #Dryuary was in full swing on social media and in the bars and living rooms of the nation, as the so-called sober curious or mindful drinking movement reached a new level of maturity.