by Tara Rafiq | Nov 17, 2017 | The Alchemist
Mexico’s top bartender makes us fall in love with the smouldering complexity of mezcal “Twenty years ago in Mexico, mezcal was for poor people. Fifty years ago it was for poor people in the villages,” says Mica Rousseau. “Now it’s a super trendy spirit in the...
by Tara Rafiq | Nov 10, 2017 | The Alchemist
November is no one’s favourite month. It’s dark, cold, wet and gloomy, and it isn’t quitethe month that comes with presents. Maybe that’s why it’s such a great month for drinking. I mean, maybe that’s why it’s such a great month for new product releases and exciting...
by Tara Rafiq | Nov 3, 2017 | The Alchemist
Savour the art of the shaken and stirred at the ski resort’s annual food and drink fest If you think Whistler Cornucopia is just about wine, think again. Sure, there’s no shortage of Chardonnay, but the annual food-and-drink festival is also about beer, whisky...
by Tara Rafiq | Oct 27, 2017 | Home Bar, The Alchemist
Your primer for the the lexicon of liquor Cocktails have their own vocabulary, a richly evocative lingo that has evolved over the years from the barkeeps who sling the drinks, the customers who swill ’em and the scribes who take note of it all. Here are some of the...
by Tara Rafiq | Oct 20, 2017 | The Alchemist
Cocktail-forward restaurant serving nine new takes on the classic for its fifth birthday The Old Fashioned is, arguably, the original cocktail, or at least, the whisky version of it. “Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and...
by Tara Rafiq | Oct 13, 2017 | The Alchemist
Davin de Kergommeaux and I are lounging in the oak-paneled sitting room of Willistead Manor in Windsor, Ont., ancestral home of the Hiram Walker family, sipping rye and, fittingly, talking about Canadian whisky. “I’ve got a lot of single malt at home, but...
