Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
Vancouver is home to countless cool bars, some dive-y, some hip, some themed—and some full of surprises. A few house separate, completely different rooms that you might not even be aware exist. Here’s a handful of the city’s best bars within bars.
Southeast Asian flavours and a pretty purple hue make this cocktail from The Diamond (and Elk Room) irresistible.• 1.5 oz yuzu sake
• 0.5 oz Wray & Nephew overproof rum
• 0.5 oz butterfly pea flower syrup
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• Tonic water
• Garnish: sprig of mint
• 1 lemon
• 1 orange
• 1/2 apple
• Handful blackberries
• 1 bottle (750 mL) Spanish red wine
• 1.5 oz Triple Sec or Grand Marnier
• 1.5 oz brandy
• 2 oz lemonade
• 2 oz orange juice
• 6 to 8 oz soda water or 7Up
• 0.75 oz Los Siete Misterios Doba Yej mezcal
• 0.75 oz Cazadores blanco tequila
• 0.75 oz El Bandarra vermouth
• 0.3 oz Legend Naramaro
• 0.3 oz Odd Society Mia Amata amaro
• Dash Apothecary Bitters Darkness Coffee and Cacao Bitters
• Garnish: orange twist
Campari-pomegranate ice cube:
• 0.5 oz Campari
• 0.5 oz pomegranate juice
• 3 oz water
Cocktail:
• 1 oz Volcan blanco tequila
• 0.25 oz pisco
• 0.5 oz orgeat
• 0.5 oz citric acid
• Garnish: dehydrated lemon slice, pomegranate seeds
Frank Deiter is a man on a mission.
As the founder of Okanagan Spirits in 2004, Deiter charted the pioneering distillery’s early successes before leaving in 2011 to pursue other ventures. These days he works with Mueller Pot Stills, representing what is widely recognized as one of Germany’s leading still manufacturers across North America. He also maintains a hands-on presence throughout the craft-distilling industry as an independent consultant and instructor.
More than 200 years ago, wine drinkers in Turin and Marseille started adding bittering and flavouring botanicals to wine fortified with spirit, to make an entirely new drink. The styles they created—a sweeter, reddish-brown style in Italy and a drier white-wine version in France—are iconic today, and collectively known as vermouth, a term that comes from the root word for wormwood, which is synonymous in many languages with “bitter.”
Now enjoying a renaissance thanks to cocktail mixology and the Spanish-driven trend for sipping them solo or as a spritz, vermouths should have a place on your back bar. (Actually, in your fridge, where a red vermouth will stay fresh for several months, and white vermouth for several weeks after opening.) Here are three new and three favourite B.C. bottlings to try.
• 3 oz Citrus Wine (recipe below)
• 0.25 oz melissa and peppermint hydrosols (see note)
• 2 dashes citric acid, available at gourmet stores
• Soda water, to taste
• Orange zest and mint, for garnish
• 1 oz De Vine Sloe Gin
• 0.5 oz De Vine Bianca Vermouth
• 2 oz Fever Tree Classic Tonic
• Lemon peel, for garnish
• 1 oz Odd Society Prospector Rye Whisky
• 0.75 oz Odd Society Bittersweet Vermouth
• 0.25 oz Odd Society Crème de Cassis
• Garnish: orange twist, brandied cherry