Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
Though there’s a bar on virtually every downtown street in New York, we recently hit some old favourites and some new essentials, to help guide your next drinking safari to the Big Apple.
Because there are so few rules governing Canadian whisky, those who make it can give their creativity free rein. And that is just what Andres Faustinelli, master blender at Bearface Whisky, is doing with his new “Wilderness Series” of whiskies made with ingredients foraged in B.C.’s Monashee Mountains.
Once summer’s warmer, sunnier weather finally arrives, we crave drinks that are lighter and easier, more refreshing and less complicated. No one knows that better than the bartenders who craft all your Margaritas, G&Ts, spritzes and other summertime thirst quenchers. So we asked them to share their favourite warm weather spirits, and the cocktails they would make with them. This issue, our tasting panel team comprises bartenders J-S Dupuis, Robyn Gray, Jeff Savage, Grant Sceney and David Wolowidnyk. Here’s what they had to say.
• 2 oz Barsol Pisco – Quebranta
• 1.5 oz fresh pineapple juice
• 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.5 oz orgeat (almond syrup)
• Garnish: pineapple slice
• 1 oz Tanqueray gin
• 0.67 oz Blueberry Lavender Oleo (see note)
• 0.67 oz lemon juice
• 0.25 oz Luxardo Bitter Bianco
• 3 oz Blue Mountain Brut (or other sparkling wine)
• Garnish: Thyme flower
• 1.5 oz blanco tequila
• 0.5 oz crème de cassis
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• Ginger beer
• Garnish: lime wheel
1 whole lime
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 oz cachaça
Garnish: lime zest
Move over Pinot, Tempranillo and Albariño. Wine pairings are fine, but cocktails are increasingly gaining recognition for the role they can play in taking a dining experience to the next level.
The growing trend was on full, tantalizing display during Vancouver Cocktail Week 2022, with cocktail-paired brunches and dinners at spots like Botanist, Tableau Bar Bistro and Carlino proving to be particularly popular.
• 2 oz Lapsang Bourbon (see recipe below)
• 1 oz Salted Asian Pear Syrup (see recipe below)
• 4 drops Apothecary Mystic Caravan Bitters
• Absinthe mist
• Garnish: dehydrated pear slice, lapsang tea smoke