The Belly of the Beast

The Belly of the Beast. Photo courtesy of Library Bar

Recipe by Tristin Vissers, bartender at Toronto’s Library Bar.

INGREDIENTS: 

1.5 oz Appleton Estate 12 Year old rum

0.75 oz Brown Butter Fat-Washed Bearface Triple Oak whisky (see note)

0.75 oz Metaxa 5 Star brandy

0.75 oz grapefruit juice

0.75 oz sea buckthorn juice

0.75 oz Toasted Pecan & Mace Orgeat (see recipe below)

1 dash Angostura bitters

Garnish: cedar sprig, cinnamon sticks, bitters

Continue Reading

Rat Boy

Rat Boy. Photo courtesy of Bar Mordecai

Recipe by Kat Saulnier, bartender at Toronto’s Bar Mordecai.

INGREDIENTS: 

0.75 oz Lot 40 Rye Whisky

0.75 oz Tio Pepe fino sherry

0.5 oz Strega liqueur

0.75 oz Salted Oat Orgeat (see note)

0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

1 dash Angostura bitters

Garnish: star anise pod

Continue Reading

High Fives All Around

Hight Fives All Around. Photo courtesy of Salt & Brick

Recipe by Bradley Horseman, bar manager, Salt & Brick in Calgary.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 oz Forty Creek Copper Bold

0.5 oz Punt e Mes vermouth

0.25 oz maraschino liqueur

0.5 oz Chinese Five Spice Agave Syrup (see recipe)

1 oz pineapple juice

0.75 oz fresh lemon juice

Continue Reading

Pollination

Sarah Annand photo

Bearface’s distinct character serves as the perfect foundation for a cocktail that connects flavour, place and story in Lacey Roberts’s (Published on Main) Bianco Manhattan, which is poured tableside from a beeswax-coated vessel, the wax sourced directly from the Queen Elizabeth Park apiary.

Continue Reading

Tickets are on sale now for Toronto Cocktail Festival

The first annual festival runs from October 22 to 26 with a full slate of events, including the unmissable Gala of Cocktails

Living Room Creative photo

Tickets are now on sale for the first annual Toronto Cocktail Festival presented by The Alchemist magazine. Save your seat for the best seminars, most delicious cocktail-paired dinners and unmissable signature events like the Gala of Cocktails and the Closing Cocktail-Paired Brunch.

“We are proud to support and promote Toronto’s incredible cocktail community and culture. The success of Toronto Cocktail Festival is made possible through the collaboration of everyone in the industry including bartenders, venues, brands, consumers, and the supporting media,” says Gail Nugent, publisher of The Alchemist magazine and event producer for TCF.

Continue Reading

Devil

Photo courtesy of Arcana Spirit Lounge

Recipe by Ryan Buchanan, bar manager at Arcana Spirits Lounge, Vancouver. Note that he uses lime ash to create black bitters to draw the pentagram on the drink, but recommends that home bartender use Angostura instead.

Continue Reading

Make tonight a good night out

How a B.C. non-profit is helping bar and nightlife patrons stay safe

A pink-clad Good Night Out team hits the streets to keep vulnerable patrons safe. Nikki Fraser photo

This past March, The Keefer Bar customers sipping Dragon’s Eye Mules and Café Bastille Martinezes were having a good night out, while also supporting Good Night Out (GNO). The Vancouver non-profit has a champion in World Class Canada Bartender of the Year 2025, The Keefer Bar’s Kate Chernoff, who in collaboration with Ketel One’s Garnished with Good program created two fundraising cocktails to support a group that has been making music festivals, bars and clubs safer from sexual harassment and violence for the past nine years.

Continue Reading

Taking flight

Could the Paper Plane be the perfect cocktail?

Rhubarb and ginger are a natural pairing, and Kissa Tanto’s Avi Kunen loves combining them with Japanese whisky and Italian amaro in a nod to the classic. Photo courtesy of Kissa Tanto

I love a Martini. I’m happy to whisper sweet words to a well-made Old Fashioned. I’ve fallen head over heels for a Negroni on a good patio. But hear me out: While all of the above are well and good, the Paper Plane is the perfect drink.

Made from equal portions of bourbon, Amaro Nonino, Aperol and lemon juice, the new-school classic cocktail has a kiss of booze, a bright hit of citrus and an herbal allure from the addition of amaro. The recipe is foolproof: just one ounce of everything, shake and pour.

Continue Reading