Bar Bites

Seven fall and winter cocktail events you don’t want to miss

October 11, 2019 No Comments

With so many exciting events coming up, you won’t have a moment of boredom all winter long.

Toronto Cocktail Week

Get your kicks in the Six this fall: The six-day festival of all things boozy returns
October 15 to 20, bringing together bars, brands and bartenders—as well as consumers, of course—to celebrate the city’s evolving cocktail scene. TCW will be shaking things up with a neighbourhood-focused bar guide, themed gala events, guided, seminars and pop-up bars featuring familiar faces from Vancouver. torontococktailweek.ca

Art of the cocktail

The Alchemist is pleased to sponsor Western Canada’s most important cocktail festival October 19 in beautiful downtown Victoria. Some 900 attendees will gather at the Grand Tasting to sip and sample cocktails and products from 40 exhibitors pouring more than 60 spirits. Plus there will be masterclasses, guided tastings and more fun than you can shake a cobbler at during this fundraiser for the Victoria Film Festival. artofthecocktail.ca

Bar Bites

Mac and cheese, revised

September 20, 2019 No Comments

Tired of the same old, same old wine-and-cheese pairing? The folks at The Macallan have got you covered.

They’ve recently partnered with Toronto cheese wiz Afrim Pristine (owner of Cheese Boutique and author of the book For the Love of Cheese) and American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional Elizabeth Chubbuck to pair fine fromage with, yes, single malt.

Turns out, they go surprisingly well together.

Bar Bites

At RauDZ, gin is in

August 23, 2019 No Comments

At RauDZ Creative Concepts, it’s not just about farm to table, but farm to glass. That’s why the Kelowna-based restaurant company has just launched its own craft gin, The Whole Truth, made by Okanagan Spirits and flavoured with locally grown botanicals.

It was inspired by The Truth, a variation on the G&T featured at RauDZ Regional Table on opening day a decade ago, back in spring 2009. The gin has plenty of refreshing cucumber and floral aromas, as well as the citrusy notes of mock orange, a native B.C. shrub that was foraged by Tyler Dyck, the CEO of Okanagan Spirits, at nearby Poplar Point.

The gin is available exclusively at RauDZ Regional Table, micro bar & bites, Sunny’s Modern Diner, and Terrafina at Hester Creek by RauDZ.

Bar Bites

A cooler cooler

August 9, 2019 No Comments

Love it or hate it, the cooler is the quintessential drink of summer. Typically a fruity, fizzy, vodka-based cocktail in a can, it’s the ultimate in convenience for all summer’s camping trips and backyard BBQs.

But sophisticated it ain’t. Until now.

Bar Bites

Summer in a glass

July 12, 2019 No Comments

For nine months of the year, we can enjoy our fancy drinks, our boozy drinks, our brown-bitter-stirred drinks all we like. But when summer rolls around, we just want something easy. Cool. Refreshing. Even better if it’s made with watermelon.

Bar Bites, Recipes

Joey Watermelon Drink

July 11, 2019 No Comments

This perfect patio cocktail recipe is from Joey Restaurants.

• 8 (1-inch) cubes of fresh watermelon
• 8 to 10 fresh mint leaves
• 1.5 oz Absolut vodka
• 0.25 oz agave syrup
• 0.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice

Bar Bites

Mark your calendars with these 5 cocktail events

July 10, 2019 No Comments

The Weather Network has forecast a hot, dry summer for B.C., so get out and make the most of it at these upcoming events.

Deighton Cup

Don your fancy chapeaux and hoist your glasses! The ponies hit the track once again on July 20 for the 11th annual Deighton Cup at Hastings Racecourse. Some 5,000 people gather at the track to gamble on the ponies while enjoying swish fashion, buckets of bubbly, fine cigars, gourmet cuisine and, of course, cocktails. The event includes an annual mixology competition, plus sweet summer sippers to enjoy trackside. deightoncup.com

Night on the pier

As the sun sinks to the west on August 8, some of Vancouver’s top bartenders will start shaking things up at this chill party on West Vancouver’s Ambleside Pier. This fundraiser for local arts programs is part of the Harmony Arts festival (August 2 to 11), and there will be food, fun, gorgeous views and plenty of great cocktails to enjoy. harmonyarts.ca

Bar Bites

Poolside reading

July 5, 2019 No Comments

Looking for a good beach read this summer?
These new books will quench your thirst for words and cocktails alike

Bar Bites

In the spirit of cocktails

June 16, 2019 No Comments

Into the Aether, created by the Botanist bar team, was selected to represent North America at the Bols Around the World competition in Amsterdam in June 2019. Photo courtesy of Botanist Restaurant

A sparkling goblet filled with golden elixir revolves lazily in mid-air, twirling a couple of inches above the vapours of dry ice billowing from a wooden platform. It looks like magic, and it is, sort of.

Bar Bites, Recipes

Into the Aether

June 15, 2019 No Comments

Designed by Botanist Bar team members Grant Sceney, Jeff Savage and Max Curzon-Price. Note that the team uses their own housemade vermouth, but any quality dry vermouth will also work.

• 1.5 oz Bols Genever
• 0.75 oz dry vermouth
• 0.75 oz cold-pressed white tea
• 0.25 oz BOLS Maraschino
• 1 barspoon peated Scotch whisky
• 1 barspoon salt water (5%)

With so many exciting events coming up, you won’t have a moment of boredom all winter long.

Toronto Cocktail Week

Art of the cocktail

This perfect patio cocktail recipe is from Joey Restaurants.

The Weather Network has forecast a hot, dry summer for B.C., so get out and make the most of it at these upcoming events.

Deighton Cup

Night on the pier

Looking for a good beach read this summer? These new books will quench your thirst for words and cocktails alike

Designed by Botanist Bar team members Grant Sceney, Jeff Savage and Max Curzon-Price. Note that the team uses their own housemade vermouth, but any quality dry vermouth will also work.

Looking for a good beach read this summer?
These new books will quench your thirst for words and cocktails alike