A world of flavours

At The Watson, it’s all about a laidback vibe and well-travelled cocktails

The Watson’s bar manager, Jordan Coelho, experiments with flavours he’s discovered around the world. Chelsea Brown photo

The late afternoon light filters through the window, casting a lazy haze over Main Street’s newest bar, The Watson.

The crew preps for opening, whirring around the dark wood and green leather interior accented with marble and gold fixtures. The space feels simultaneously Parisian yet West Coast, Art Deco yet contemporary.

Bar manager and partner Jordan Coelho says he wanted it to feel like a library and gestures to the apothecary shelf behind the bar that he hopes to deck out with homemade bitters. Their house-blend amaro already sits in pride of place, aging in Woodford Reserve barrels.

As opening approaches, shakers are already ringing out in the capable hands of bartender Thomas Dodds (previously of The Diamond).

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‘After 14 years of last calls’ this iconic Gastown cocktail bar is closing

The bar has welcomed over 2 million guests since opening.

The Diamond, a Vancouver cocktail culture staple is closing after 14 years in business. @thediamondgastown/Instragram

In a heartfelt and reflective Instagram post, The Diamond, one of Vancouver’s most well-loved cocktail bars, announced that it is closing.

“After 14 years of last calls, we’ve finally reached ours,” reads the post.

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Serious Storytelling

Suyo’s bartenders sidestep pretension by perfecting the art of not taking yourself too seriously

The bar team at Suyo Modern Peruvian—Andrew Kong, left, and bar manager Max Curzon-Price—tell the tale of Peru in their creative cocktails. Chelsea Brown photo

Inside the recently opened Suyo Modern Peruvian on Main Street, just above the chorus of stylish 20-somethings and couples on date night, the bartenders can be heard telling the story of Peru—from undergrowth to clouds, ancient Incan civilization to contemporary culture.

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11 of Canada’s 50 Best Bars of 2023 are in B.C.

Some new names and usual suspects, including several here in Vancouver

11 B.C. bars were named in Canada’s 50 Best Bars list 2023. Here they are. Canada’s 100 Best photo

There was a lot of jostling for position and some surprise inclusions in this year’s just-released list of Canada’s 50 Best Bars.

Usual suspects from past lists such as Botanist, The Keefer Bar, and Laowai made the cut yet again, though they’ve been bumped down a few places by bars in Toronto and Montreal. Civil Liberties in Toronto is returning champion and took home the title of Canada’s Best Bar for the second year in a row.

Botanist came in fourth place, and The Keefer Bar was eighth, with Laowai rounding out the top 10.

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A massive artisan spirits festival returns to Vancouver with 40 distilleries

BC Distilled is back.

After three years, BC Distilled is returning to Vancouver. BC Distilled photo

After three years of cancelled and modified events, BC Distilled, the massive artisanal spirits festival, is returning to Vancouver.

Forty distilleries and hundreds of locally produced spirits, several of which are new additions to the festival, will take over two rooms at the Croatian Cultural Centre on Commercial Drive this May.

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Five craft colas to mix in your next cocktail

These cola brands give the popular soda an artisanal remake

Colas originated as medicinal beverages, but are now just sweet refreshers. Getty Images photo

Think of cola and you likely think of Coke, Pepsi and the rivalry between them. 

The two beverages were initially developed by pharmacists as patent medicines—one to aid digestion (Pepsi), the other as nerve tonic (Coke)—but today they are simply sweet, carbonated beverages with flavours of vanilla, citrus and spice, especially cinnamon. 

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A secret bar is opening behind a Chinatown ‘betting shop’

There’s a new speakeasy in town!

The team behind Laowai is opening another hidden bar in Chinatown, Bagheera. Supplied photo

Getting inside Vancouver’s newest bar involves placing a wager on “King Louie.”

The team behind the hidden Chinatown bar Laowai is opening another underground watering hole, this time inside the (faux) Happy Valley Turf Club off-track betting shop (518 Main St).

Bagheera is an homage to India and the cultural crossroads of Three Kingdoms Hospitality co-founders Lewis Hart and Brij Rathi. While Laowai is modelled after Prohibition-era Shanghai, Bagheera is named for the black panther in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and was inspired by India at the turn of the 20th century.

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Watch: One of the world’s best bartenders makes drinks for thousands from her Vancouver home

She’s spreading her world-class knowledge online.

Vancouver-based bartender Kaitlyn Stewart is TikTok famous

Kaitlyn Stewart loves to learn.

If the Vancouver bartender sees a new technique or tries a drink that captures her interest, she wants to know how it works. “I’m like a sponge, I’m always trying to soak it up,” she tells V.I.A over the phone.

She believes constantly learning is a testament to being a good bartender or even chef. It’s also likely one of the traits that earned her the title Bartender of the Year at the World Class Competition in 2017.

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Cocktails that tell a story

Three new bars define cocktails, each in their unique way

At Carlino. bar manager Gianluigi Bosco revisits the ingredients he grew up with in Italy. Christopher Giannakos photo

There’s a special camaraderie between keen patron and impassioned bartender. The room design, flavour and atmosphere combine and create fertile ground for storytelling. Luckily, these three new cocktail-forward bars and restaurants that have just opened in Vancouver are more than happy to indulge us. 

We stopped by these hot spots to get a taste of what they’re serving.

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8 of Canada’s 50 Best Bars of 2022 are in Vancouver

3 of our favourite bars even made the top 5

Botanist was named the second-best bar in Canada according to the Canada’s 50 Best Bars list. Canada’s 100 Best photo

The absence of the Canada’s 50 Best Bars list (there hasn’t been one since 2020) means that this year’s entry has an extra celebratory zeal behind it. Canada’s 100 Best even declares “Pour us another. Bars are back!”

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