Sip and celebrate your way through these seasonal and pop-up drinks events in Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler and Toronto.
12 Drinks of Christmas
Indie Spirit
Independent bottler Bira! is putting Vancouver on the rum map with its limited releases of rare global sugar-cane spirits
The taste of a 15-year-old spirit from a historic distillery in Guyana woke Karl Mudzamba’s tastebuds up to rum. The Zimbabwe native was playing pro rugby in New Zealand when a friend brought him the bottle. One sip and he thought, “Wow, I wonder what else is out there,” he recalls. “So I got curious, and started trying as many rums from around the world as possible.” Among them were some unusual regional, small-batch artisanal bottlings.
Make tonight a good night out
How a B.C. non-profit is helping bar and nightlife patrons stay safe
This past March, The Keefer Bar customers sipping Dragon’s Eye Mules and Café Bastille Martinezes were having a good night out, while also supporting Good Night Out (GNO). The Vancouver non-profit has a champion in World Class Canada Bartender of the Year 2025, The Keefer Bar’s Kate Chernoff, who in collaboration with Ketel One’s Garnished with Good program created two fundraising cocktails to support a group that has been making music festivals, bars and clubs safer from sexual harassment and violence for the past nine years.
Bespoke bottles
How restaurants and bars collaborate with craft distillers to create custom sips
Vancouver hotspots like Osteria Elio Volpe and Caffè La Tana are authentically Italian, down to the tomatoes in the sugo. Yet your after-dinner limoncello might come from Esquimalt and your dark, bitter amaro from Nanaimo. The Banda Volpi restaurant group collaborates with B.C. distillers to create bespoke bottlings for its restaurants, and its “passion for creating and growing with our community is reflected in every bottle,” says group co-founder Paul Grundberg.
Where to Drink in Los Angeles Right Now
Just like L.A. itself, the top drinks are widely spread out across the city. Here are a few hotspots in diverse ’hoods, for epic coastal bar-crawling.
Hollywood and West Hollywood
A retro, neon-signed cocktail hideaway on the Sunset Strip that used to be a talent agency office representing Marilyn Monroe and other legends is now Bar Next Door. Vintage décor (including a reel-to-reel projector) and carefully crafted classic cocktails create laid-back sipping vibes that are a welcome respite from the Hollywood hustle. Order a thick, gooey slice of cup-and-burn pepperoni from Prince Street Pizza next door and a majestic Olive Drive cocktail, which Esquire called one of the best Martinis in America.
Where to Drink in Hong Kong Right Now
Asia is one of the world’s hottest bar scenes, and Hong Kong is one of its hotspots — and home to the recently named number 1 in Asia’s Best Bars 2024. If you’re lucky enough to be staying at a hotel in the waterside Central ’hood, here’s what an epic cocktail crawl up the city’s escalators, stairs and levels might look like.
Martinis and masterclasses
At TOCC, industry insiders get a taste of top trends
Toronto Cocktail Conference (TOCC) powered through its fifth edition in August, drawing bartenders to Toronto’s The Drake Hotel from far-flung places to exchange ideas, build community and to drink in plenty of education and tasting (including the world’s best Martini!).
Where to drink right now in Las Vegas
The bar scene is smoking hot (especially in the summer months!) in Las Vegas. These days on the Strip, it seems that every casino resort has not just opulent lobby and restaurant bars but also hidden cocktail dens (from high-class, vintage-spirits focused The Vault behind the Bellagio cashier’s cage to no less than four speaks at the Cosmopolitan!). In a city where you can drink 24-7, here are some stellar spots, focusing on the current hot zone to the north of the Strip to the local-favourite neighbourhoods beyond. With all the concerts and entertainment coming up in the desert, there are plenty of reasons to beat the heat inside a cool bar this summer.
Nuts for inclusive vodka
Canada’s first out-and-proud 2SLGBTQIA+ owned and operated brand is becoming Squirrel Friendz with cocktail fans in B.C. and beyond
It all started with a night out at a casino, after which Kyle Aszalos woke up with what he thought could be a million-dollar idea. “Cocktail kits!” he said to his partner, Jeremy Fischer. That pivoted to producing their own spirits to put in the kits, and “then we scrapped the kits,” Fischer laughs.
The co-founders of Squirrel Friendz vodka are celebrating the brand’s one-year anniversary this summer, with entry into BC Liquor Stores in May and a bold, colourful presence on many private-store shelves and back bars. “We went with vodka because it’s the quickest to get to market,” Aszalos says of sourcing the crisp spirit, in all-natural flavours with no added sugar, from commercial distillery Orchard City Distilling Co. in West Kelowna. Quick was important, because it meant they could quickly start making a difference.
A Japanese whisky pilgrimage
Taste the 90-year legacy of Nikka Whisky at these essential stops
In most parts of the world, the whisky made there (or the brandy, vodka, rum…) is the result of what grows and thrives in a particular place. The century-old Japanese whisky industry is entirely unique: It’s based on one person’s DNA, and his global quest for whisky excellence.
The grandfather of Japanese whisky founded two of its most famous labels more than 100 years ago: Suntory, in 1923; and Nikka, in 1934. In Nikka’s 90th anniversary year, the brand invited a select group of whisky-philes to trace its founder’s path across Japan. Here’s a taste of Nikka whisk-tory.