Drinking chocolate comes of age in spirit-forward cocktails
I Should Cocoa
Style council
Yaletown’s Revolución Cigar & Fine Gifts celebrates the finer things in life
At Yaletown’s Revolución Cigar & Fine Gifts, Paul Agelidis welcomes clients from all over the world, curious to see his unique lifestyle products. Revolución is also a favourite for celebrities , including Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Harrison Ford.
Field work
Potatoes fuel the spirit at Langley’s Roots and Wings Distillery
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
It may be a truism, but for Rebekah Crowley and Rob Rindt it’s also the organizing principle that inspired their newly opened Roots and Wings Distillery in Langley, and the reason their handcrafted vodka exists.
The Cosmopolitan
Our man at the bar, John Burns, explores the mystical properties of Magical Drinking
The rest of the world has moved on, but I’m still hung up on Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. Top of the eighth, the Chicago Cubs were ahead 6–3, then gave away three runs for the Cleveland Indians to tie it up heading into the ninth. When play resumed in extra innings after a rain delay, Cubs second baseman (and series MVP) Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double for the go-ahead run that brought a 108-year drought to its end.
Relief Cubs pitcher Jon Lester let in those three runs, but that’s OK. The guy’s a hero (a story for another time), and more germane to a cocktail magazine, he secured this historic victory through magic. When the Cubs started their pre-season in April, the Commons Club in the Virgin Hotels Chicago offered the Never Quit: a fundraiser cocktail for Lester’s favourite charity, with vodka, peanut syrup and leaf alcohol, topped with Old Style lager. The twist: the vodka was macerated with Lester’s pitcher’s mitt. Yes, it was a drink of fake grass, peanuts and leather, which sounds terrible — like a Moscow Mule minus all the good bits — except, to repeat, it appeared in the same season that Lester helped shutter a century-long curse. Coincidence? I think not.
The B.C. Filibuster
Just in time for the provincial election, a politically inspired cocktail with ingredients that celebrate British Columbia.
INGREDIENTS:
3 oz Lohin McKinnon Single Malt Whisky
3/4 oz apple butter diluted with just enough water to make a thick syrup
2 dashes of Bittered Sling Suius Cherry Bitters
1 dash Bittered Sling Kensington Bitters
METHOD:
Place all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir well. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass and add fresh ice. Garnish with a dehydrated apple chip.
—by J-S Dupuis
Ballot Box Booze
The history of the cocktail is indelibly entwined with modern politics
It may not be immediately obvious, but politics and cocktails have an affinity to rival gin and vermouth.
J-S Dupuis, bar manager at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar agrees. “The history of spirits and politics — they’ve always gone hand in hand.”
The romance of amaro
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.”
The Paper Plane Updated
Mia Glanz puts her own spin on the modern classic cocktail.
• ¾ oz (22 mL) lemon juice
• ¾ oz (22 mL) Aperol
• ¾ oz (22 mL) bourbon
• ¾ oz (22 mL) Mia Amata amaro
Into the Fray
At The Cascade Room, Jean-Marc Dykes puts his signature twist on the cocktail menu
For some, inspiration comes by way of music, meditation or motivational speeches.
Jean-Marc Dykes’ unexpected light-bulb moment came in 2015, in the bowels of a tall ship while mixing drinks for friends.
The Pachamama
An ode to Mother Nature
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 oz El Gobernador Pisco
0.25 oz Amaro Nonino
0.25 oz Giffard Elderflower Liqueur
0.75 oz lemon juice
2 dashes of Bittered Sling Western Haskap bitters
METHOD:
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake. Double strain into a chilled, small coupe. Garnish with a dehydrated rose.
—by Katie Ingram