The Alchemist

Lady O’Keefe

May 5, 2017 No Comments

Lily Duong, assistant bar manager at UVA Wine & Cocktail Bar in the Moda Hotel, captures the floral fragrance of elderflower in this refreshing spring cocktail.

• 1 oz (30 mL) vodka
• 0.5 oz (15 mL) St. Germain elderflower liqueur
• 0.75 oz (22 mL) lemon juice
• 0.75 oz (22 mL) Monin jasmine flower syrup
• 2 dashes Bittered Sling Grapefruit & Hops bitters
• 1 egg white

Place all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Once you have created voluminous foam, add ice, and shake again. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Serves 1.

The Alchemist

The perfume of spring arrives in your drink

May 5, 2017 No Comments

Why elderflower is the flavour you want to add to cocktails right now

Think of the elderflower as spring in a glass.

Recipes, The Alchemist

Hanky Panky

April 28, 2017 No Comments

As bar manager of the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London, Ada Coleman created this simple, yet complex cocktail that is considered one of the great classics. Don’t be tempted to skip the orange peel garnish – it’s what magically ties all the flavours together

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You go, girl

April 28, 2017 No Comments

Sexual harassment, Speed Rack and the realities of being a woman bartender

Ada Coleman, head bartender of The American Bar at the Savoy in London from 1903 to 1926. Contributed photo

You’ve come a long way, baby – or have you?

Recipes, The Alchemist

Vancouver #2

April 21, 2017 No Comments

Before the team at Botanist installed the bar top, creative beverage director Grant Sceney “bought a drink for the next generation of bartenders” by embedding a bottled cocktail, a handwritten note and a copy of the first bar menu inside the bar itself. This is the cocktail they left for the future: an updated version of the classic Vancouver cocktail. “We’ve made the Vancouver Cocktail as Vancouver as we can,” says Sceney.

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Botanist stirs things up

April 21, 2017 No Comments

With its own cocktail lab, this new bar is set to launch an era of innovation in Vancouver

Creative beverage director Grant Sceney with a Vancouver #2. Dan Toulgoet photo

Bored with the same old watering holes? Well, you’re in luck, because Botanist is getting ready to shake up Vancouver’s cocktail scene.

Recipes, The Alchemist

Joy’s Cocktail

April 14, 2017 No Comments

This refreshing patio-sipper of a cocktail is created by Appleton Estate master blender Joy Spence.

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

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From Jamaica to Vancouver

April 14, 2017 No Comments

A visit from the queen of rum

Appleton Estate master blender Joy Spence with her masterpiece, the Joy Anniversary Blend rum. Appleton Estate photo

“When people taste it, the first word you hear is, ‘Whoa,’” says Joy Spence, smiling. I take a sip. “Whoa,” I exclaim. She laughs.

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B.C.’s spirits boom: sample the best in handcrafted hooch

April 7, 2017 No Comments

BC Distilled festival an opportunity to sample everything from amaro to whisky, all made right here

A selection of gins and botanicals from Vancouver Island’s Ampersand Distilling, at the 2016 BC Distilled festival. BC Distilled photo

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.

The Alchemist

The romance of amaro

March 24, 2017 No Comments

Odd Society’s Mia Amata is just the latest in BC’s bumper crop of the potable bitter. Dan Toulgoet photo

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.”