Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
Bored with the same old watering holes? Well, you’re in luck, because Botanist is getting ready to shake up Vancouver’s cocktail scene.
Ingredients:
• Slice of orange
• 1 oz (30 mL) Appleton Estate Reserve Blend
• 3 oz (90 mL) ginger ale
• 5 drops Angostura bitters
• Slice of orange peel to garnish
“When people taste it, the first word you hear is, ‘Whoa,’” says Joy Spence, smiling. I take a sip. “Whoa,” I exclaim. She laughs.
It’s hard to believe that just five years ago, British Columbia had fewer than 10 artisan distilleries. Today, the province has at least 40, with a whole bunch more in the works.
First there’s chocolate – dark and rich. Then spice—a whole caravan of exotic flavours and aromas from faraway lands. The bitterness lands next – astringent, clean, pleasantly mouthwatering. Throughout, delicate florals, dried fruits and an underlying sweetness keep everything in balance. There’s plenty to love about the new Mia Amata amaro from Odd Society Spirits, and not just because it counts Brazilian aphrodisiacs among its botanical makeup.
“I wanted to make it a modern-style bitter,” says Mia Glanz, the bartender who created it. “It took three years of work. I discarded an original recipe and started again.”
• ¾ oz (22 mL) lemon juice
• ¾ oz (22 mL) Aperol
• ¾ oz (22 mL) bourbon
• ¾ oz (22 mL) Mia Amata amaro
It’s right there in the original description of a cocktail, dating back to 1806: “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters – it is vulgarly called a bittered sling.”
In other words, bitters are what make a cocktail a cocktail. And that makes bitters an essential part of any home or professional bar.
• 1 oz (30 mL) mezcal, preferably Siete Misterios
• 1 oz (30 mL) green Chartreuse
• 1 oz (30 mL) Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
• 1 oz (30 mL) fresh lime juice
• 2 dashes Ms. Better’s Green Strawberry Mah-Kwan bitters
In the months before the Rosewood Hotel Georgia’s subterranean bar, Prohibition, opened, head bartender Brad Stanton spent countless hours obsessing over every detail, from a state-of-the-art ice-maker to stylish copper bar tools.
One of the things he obsessed over most was the glassware.
• 2 oz (60 mL) Old Tom gin
• 1 oz (30 mL) lemon juice
• ¾ oz (20 mL) elderflower liqueur
• Soda water
Shake gin, lemon juice and elderflower liqueur in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice, then top with soda water. Garnish with 3 lemon wheels. Serves 1.
—by Robyn Gray