B.C.'s only magazine dedicated to local distilleries and cocktail culture.
It’s within the crisp concrete walls of the newly open Copper Spirit Distillery that owners Candice and Miguel Kabantsov want people to forge new relationships with alcohol and one another.
“We discussed how we could create an industry that was focused on conscious consumption, not over consumption,” said Candice.
British Columbians can now visit another Canadian province and bring back to B.C. an unlimited amount of alcohol, the B.C. government said in a July 19 news release.
The move also applies to people from other provinces who visit B.C.
• 1 oz. spirit-free gin syrup (recipe below)
• 0.75 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 5 oz tonic water
• 2 oz La Bicicletta Gin
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 0.25 oz simple syrup
• 4 oz tonic water
• 2 oz. Royal Gin
• 0.5 oz mandarin juice
• 0.25 oz. simple syrup
• 4 oz tonic water
Gin is unlike any other spirit. Simply put, gin is a distilled grain mash that produces a neutral alcohol or vodka. The spirit is then redistilled with botanicals, herbs and spices to achieve the final product. It doesn’t rely on aging in oak barrels like whisky, and it doesn’t rely on one agricultural product to achieve its flavour, like agave for tequila. The infusion process will determine the flavour profile of each gin.
In other words, gin is essentially a botanical-flavoured vodka. And that means, even though not very many of us will ever have access to a still, we can make our own quality gins by working with infusions.
For nine months of the year, we can enjoy our fancy drinks, our boozy drinks, our brown-bitter-stirred drinks all we like. But when summer rolls around, we just want something easy. Cool. Refreshing. Even better if it’s made with watermelon.
• 8 (1-inch) cubes of fresh watermelon
• 8 to 10 fresh mint leaves
• 1.5 oz Absolut vodka
• 0.25 oz agave syrup
• 0.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
Don your fancy chapeaux and hoist your glasses! The ponies hit the track once again on July 20 for the 11th annual Deighton Cup at Hastings Racecourse. Some 5,000 people gather at the track to gamble on the ponies while enjoying swish fashion, buckets of bubbly, fine cigars, gourmet cuisine and, of course, cocktails. The event includes an annual mixology competition, plus sweet summer sippers to enjoy trackside. deightoncup.com
As the sun sinks to the west on August 8, some of Vancouver’s top bartenders will start shaking things up at this chill party on West Vancouver’s Ambleside Pier. This fundraiser for local arts programs is part of the Harmony Arts festival (August 2 to 11), and there will be food, fun, gorgeous views and plenty of great cocktails to enjoy. harmonyarts.ca
• 0.75 oz Espolon Blanco
• 0.75 oz St-Germain
• 0.75 oz Contratto Bianco
• 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
• 2 oz Lambrusco