The Fettercairn Tropical Highball from the VCW 2024 Green Garden Gala. Living Room Creative photo
As we were putting this issue of The Alchemist together, an atmospheric river came roaring through town. It was dark, cold and gloomy, with raging torrents of water pouring outside. It was, in other words, whisky weather.
It’s no secret that we love whisky over here at The Alchemist, whether it’s a refined single malt with plenty of age and a touch of peaty smoke in its lineage or a spicy rye, corn-sweet bourbon or the latest elegant expression from Japan. We love whisky neat, on ice and in cocktails; most of all, we love that it’s a thoughtful spirit, one we can linger over while enjoying a good conversation.
Sometimes—well, most of the time, really—all we crave is the clean, icy-cold flavour of a Martini, the botanical bite of the gin and delicate floral essence of the vermouth. And it seems we’re not alone. Although the Martini has been around for at least a century and likely longer, it has never been trendier than it is right now. (Unless you include the syrupy “tinis” of the 1990s, which we don’t.)
Vancouver Cocktail Week 2024 began and ended with the signature events you wouldn’t want to miss
Vancouver’s own Evelyn Chick dropped by from Toronto to chat about her new book and serve up her Green Haka Cooler at the Signature Sunday Cocktail Brunch. Gail Nugent photo
From seminars to neighbourhood crawls to cocktail-paired dinners and bar-star guest shifts, Vancouver Cocktail Week presented by The Alchemist has something for everyone who enjoys raising a glass or two. But the biggest, best, most unmissable parties are the signature events that open and close the week—and this year was no exception.
Vancouver Cocktail Week features events for everyone, in support of the city’s hospitality industry
Vancouver’s Kaitlyn Stewart was the World Class Global Bartender of the Year in 2017. Living Room Creative photo
Unlike some boozy events, Vancouver Cocktail Week isn’t just a big party (though it offers plenty of opportunities to raise a glass and get your ya-yas out). And unlike other boozy events, it’s not a trade show where you wander from booth to booth sampling wee sips of things (though it does feature loads of exciting new spirits, bitters and cocktails to taste and try).
What Vancouver Cocktail Week is, is a celebration of community, and not just the community of talented bartenders and industry professionals in this city. It’s also a celebration of you, the guests they serve, the whole reason the industry exists in the first place.
That’s why VCW events take place, not in a convention hall, but in the bars and restaurants where the city’s best bartenders can show you what they do best.
And it’s also why VCW24 has something for everyone, whether you are only just discovering cocktails or want to add to your collection of recipes for your next dinner party, expand your knowledge as an industry professional or simply enjoy a fun night out on the town.
Here are just some of the exciting experiences you can discover at VCW24, March 3 to 10.
The Manhattan is regarded as the first modern cocktail. Getty Images photo
Like its namesake city, the Manhattan is elegant but uncompromising and invulnerable to fashion’s changing whims. Oh, sure, it can bend a little—rocks or up, bourbon or rye, occasionally willing to entertain a variation like the scotch-inflected Rob Roy—but it will always be what it is: a drink of whisky, vermouth and bitters.
It’s been that way since the 1880s, when it was invented. Or maybe it was the 1870s or 1860s. In any case, writing in Difford’s Guide, Simon Difford notes that “the Manhattan is regarded as the first ‘modern cocktail.’” Or as the late bartending legend Gary “Gaz” Regan once said, “It was the drink that changed the face of cocktails.”
Find these top bartenders at guest shifts, seminars and the Green Garden Gala.
From left: Jesse Vida, Tato Giovannoni, Bastien Ciocco and Diego Cabrera are among the many international bartenders attending Vancouver Cocktail Week 2024.
Vancouver Cocktail Week is your best chance to meet — and learn from — some of the world’s greatest bartenders, and you don’t even need to get on a plane to do it. From March 3 to 10, the third annual VCW welcomes some of the most skilled, talented and highly awarded barkeeps from London, Singapore, Argentina and other corners of the planet, and you will definitely want to sample what they are shaking up.
Among them is the legendary Jesse Vida, famous from NYC’s The Dead Rabbit (named World’s Best Bar by Tales of the Cocktail) as well as his days as head bartender at World’s 50 Best Bars-recognized Atlas in Singapore. He’s now partner in the agave-forward Singapore speakeasy Cat Bite Club, and ready to share all his hard-learned lessons at a seminar and guest shift at Laowai.
Two little bar bites: an elegant holiday host gift and facts about flaming rum punch
Oil from the orange peel fans the flames of a German Burnt Punch. Lou Lou Childs photo
Most Wanted: Decanters
It’s that time of year when we’re both hosting events and shopping for gifts, and there is one easy solution for both: decanters. An elegant decanter makes a lovely gift under the tree or even for a party host. It’s also a good vessel for your house whisky or brandy. But it’s best put to use for serving large-format cocktails—a decanter filled with pre-mixed Negronis or punch not only looks beautiful, but is easy to pour. Find some great options at: williams-sonoma.ca.
There’s a decided chill in the air and that can only mean one thing: It’s whisky season! True, we’re happy to sip whisky and whisky cocktails year-round, but fall especially cries out for their sweet, spicy, smoky notes.
The mid-20th century was the best of times, the booziest of times
The advent of Vodka in the 1930s begat a whole new cadre of cocktails like the Moscow Mule, Sea Breeze and Greyhound, pictured above. Getty Images photo
The end of the Second World War ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity and optimism across North America. The space race was on; so was the baby boom, a housing boom and a technology boom that filled all those new homes with fancy gadgets and their driveways with shiny automobiles. (There was also another, less happy “boom” on people’s minds, a nuclear one.)
And, when workers came home from the office to their tidy, well-appointed suburbs, they’d mix up pitchers of Martinis or Mai Tais to enjoy around their kidney-shaped cocktail tables.
Dreaming of a dram? Then you may want to hop a ferry over to Victoria, where Clive’s Classic Lounge has just been named Whisky Hotel Bar of the Year in the prestigious Icons of Whisky Awards, presented by U.K.-based Whisky magazine.
Check back often for new events and updates or subscribe to the Vancouver Cocktail Week mailing list to receive event and ticket information as it is released.
Most Wanted: Decanters
