Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
Congratulations to Shayne Herbert of Azura, who was recently named the 2024 Michelin Guide Toronto Exceptional Cocktails Award winner. He leads the bar program at Azura, an ambitious, Mediterranean-Canadian restaurant on the Danforth.
One of the world’s best whisky festivals is just a short ferry ride away from Vancouver, but you’ll have to act fast if you plan to get tickets. The Victoria Whisky Festival returns for its 19th year January 16 through 19 at the Hotel Grand Pacific. These four days of all things whisky kick off with the Canadian Whisky Awards and continue with masterclasses, whisky dinners and consumer tastings, featuring more than 200 whiskies from 50 distilleries.
The Dalmore is releasing its Cask Curation Series II: The Port Edition. It features three single cask single malts celebrating The Dalmore’s long-standing partnership with the Grahams Port: a 27-year-old, 30-year-old and 43-year-old, each finished in a single harvest tawny port cask. The release is limited to 150 sets worldwide; as for the price, well, if you have to ask … thedalmore.com
Afternoon tea at the Fairmont Empress is one of Victoria’s bucket-list experiences, served in one of the city’s most iconic spaces, the hotel’s soaring and ornate tea lobby. But now, says Maeve Fogarty, “We’re twisting afternoon tea on its head.”
When one of the city’s best known and most highly acclaimed bartenders opens a new joint, everyone sits up and takes notice. In Toronto, that bartender is Frankie Solarik, famously of Bar Chef, Prequel & Co. Apothecary and the Netflix show Drink Masters; the bar is Compton Ave., an ode to all things London, a city that just happens to have one of the best cocktail scenes in the world.
Cabin Gin 2024 Green Label: Okanagan Spirits has just released the first in a new lineup of seasonal small-batch gins inspired by time spent at the family cabin and escapes to other places. It features hints of lemongrass, fresh ginger and Thai lime leaf, reminiscent of trips through Southeast Asia. It retails for $35 (for a 500 mL bottle), with at least two more in the series expected by the end of the year. okanaganspirits.com
If it’s spring it must be competition season and Canada’s best bars and bartenders are winning awards all over the place. Here are just a few that have made news the past few months.
We’ve been waiting impatiently to see what’s going into the grand space under the Rosewood Hotel Georgia where Prohibition used to be. We’ve been waiting just as impatiently to learn where Jeff Savage would land after leaving Botanist Bar last year.
For 165 years, J.P. Wiser’s has been synonymous with Canadian whisky. But who says an old brand can’t learn new tricks? It’s just launched a bold new look across its entire portfolio, one that captures its heritage while looking ahead to the future.