B.C.'s only magazine dedicated to local distilleries and cocktail culture.
With its extended growing seasons and miles of fruitful orchards and rolling vineyards, B.C.’s Okanagan Valley is known best as Canada’s wine country. The site of many a weekend winery tour and the occasional fruit stand pit stop, one can hardly say “Okanagan” without also uttering “wine.” A lesser thought of connection? Distilled spirits.
The sun’s out, you’re feeling mellow. What better way to cool down without taking the chill off, than by enjoying a sweet, boozy treat?
Jayce Kadyshuk won the Fastest Bartender award for Victoria’s Clive’s Classic Lounge.
Justin Taylor (The Cascade Room) shook his Horse Play to the tune of the Lone Ranger to win an Honourable Mention.
The winning cocktail by Kaitlyn Stewart combined Bulleit Bourbon with a house-made Okanagan cherry shrub and Stewart’s own Milk Liqueur.
In Vancouver, you’re more likely to inherit an incredible cocktail program and back bar these days than have to build one from scratch. That said, there’s always room to improve.
Take Union bar manager Kristi-Leigh Akister. The vibrant young bartender stepped into the role established by Cascade bar manager Nick Devine and 17-year industry veteran Arthur Wynne just over a year ago, and has since established an innovative new cocktail menu and rotating draft list to pair with the restaurant’s Pan-Asian bibimbaps and bahn mis.
As unlikely as it sounds, the infamous Chinese firewater baijiu—a pungent brew capable of bringing tears to eyes and setting throats ablaze—could be the hot new ingredient for bartenders.
Clear, potent (50 per cent-plus alcohol by volume) and often compost-pile fetid, the centuries-old spirit distilled from sorghum and other grains is also the world’s most consumed liquor.
Never heard of it? You’re not alone.
Tearing up the city’s cocktail scene right now, Royal Dinette’s Kaitlyn Stewart took first place with Rock, which included lavender honey mead and Concord grape vinegar.
Tied for the runner-up spot was Justin Taylor’s Cascade Room entry, Bear Essentials.
The other runner-up was Yew Restaurant’s Firefighter, created by Phil Srigley.
Shaun Layton’s craft Juniper G&T came in third.
Jason Redmond expected to be impressed by many things about Spain, but he couldn’t have guessed the biggest takeaway from his trip last summer would be a new take on a humble highball.
“I was really surprised at the big signs outside all the little cafes and bars claiming they were selling the best ‘Gin Tonic,’” the bar manager of Whistler’s Spanish-influenced Bar Oso recalls.
“It was a really big deal, and one I had no idea about beforehand.”
INGREDIENTS:
• 2 oz Fermentorium Stump Coastal Forest Gin
• 4-6 oz Fermentorium Artisanal Dry Tonic, depending on taste
METHOD:
Garnish with a sprig of rosemary smacked between your palms, a thin slice of lime, and juniper berries.
Serve in a large (approx 20 oz) Burgundy bowl.
The concept of “farm-to-table” isn’t new for B.C. restaurants. What’s served from behind the wood is now also joining the sustainable locavore movement for a more complete offering. Brad Holmes, owner and executive chef at Olo in Victoria, has long been a vocal proponent of this movement, and his cocktail program reflects that. “Our whole restaurant is seasonal; the menu changes with what’s available on any given day and season. I always wanted to bring that to the bar. And now, with all of the great gins and vermouths and other local products, we can offer something that was grown in B.C., produced in B.C. and served in B.C.”
The relationship between cocktails and food lacks commitment in many people’s minds. Sure, a good Martini with a plate of freshly shucked oysters is a sexy start to any date, but is it the basis for a long-term love affair?
Spirit-based drinks have more success at the brunch or lunch table, either adding a bit of fizz to eggs Benedict, or providing a restorative hair-of-the-dog to the morning after the night before. The Mad Men-style three-Martini “business meeting” of old fashioned expense accounts has largely become a thing of nostalgia, and few ladies who lunch appear to have the same determination to drink as heartily as did their predecessors.