| The Alchemist

A hero’s journey

November 22, 2024 No Comments

Good Thief is a cocktail odyssey across Southeast Asia

The spicy, fruity, complex Six-Inch Yellow is an excellent way to start your cocktail journey at Good Thief. Juno Kim photos courtesy of Good Thief

The rain on the pavement reflects the red, green and orange of the Main Street traffic lights through the floor-to-ceiling windows and into the dim of Good Thief. In the summertime, the windows open completely to blend the divide between inside and out, but on a wet autumn evening, Good Thief beckons the curious and adventurous into its modern yet cozy space, promising not just drinks but a journey through the flavours of Southeast Asia and cutting-edge mixology techniques.

Last Call

Great world bars we love: The Alice at The Randolph Hotel

September 20, 2024 No Comments

At The Alice, there are delightful surprises around every corner. Photo courtesy Graduate Hotels

Touches of Wonderland can be found throughout Oxford. The centuries-old city has long been home to some of the world’s top minds, yet it also fully embraces the playful madness of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book’s author, Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), was a mathematician at Oxford University and touches of the city and its people made their way into his work. Now, nearly 130 years after Alice was first published, the city pays back that love in kind by incorporating Carroll’s work into its culture.

A good cocktail bar should feel like stepping through the looking glass and that’s exactly you will experience at The Alice, located inside the historic Randolph Hotel, a building as old as the story itself.

At the bar

Totally retro, all-new Meo

July 5, 2024 No Comments

Chinatown’s hot new bar is all about tantalizingly unexpected tastes

Inspired by vintage Taipei and historic Chinatown, Meo is tucked below (and a sibling to) Michelin-starred Kissa Tanto. Charles Nasby photo

“Is it OK if the flowers are on the edges?” a server asks as she tweezes a bloom onto the Citrus Crush cocktail and carries it to a waiting table of excited friends.

It’s 5 p.m. on a Thursday at Meo, Chinatown’s newest cocktail bar. Though the doors just opened, the place has immediately started to fill. I overhear one of the managers say there are 55 people on the books tonight and more walk-ins are expected.

It’s sunny outside, but you’d never know it in the low light of the room themed after a 1970s love-motel. Part lounge and part living room, Meo feels like an elevated version of a retro home bar. As if you stepped back in time to visit your grandparents with exquisite taste and an extensive liquor collection. The pink-hued interior and menus are influenced by Taipei and photos of Vancouver’s Chinatown from the same era.

At the bar

A world of flavours

December 8, 2023 No Comments

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).

The Alchemist

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

July 18, 2023 No Comments

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.

At the bar

Serious Storytelling

June 2, 2023 No Comments

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.

The Alchemist

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

May 19, 2023 No Comments

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.

The Alchemist

A massive artisan spirits festival returns to Vancouver with 40 distilleries

April 21, 2023 No Comments

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.

Features

Five craft colas to mix in your next cocktail

February 3, 2023 No Comments

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.

The Alchemist

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

January 21, 2023 No Comments

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.