Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
The first pandemic summer introduced the “walk-tail” and propelled the already booming RTD market to new heights. This summer promises to offer even more exciting portable pops to go. Here are three new products to toss in your backpack.
Don’t you think it’s time to have some fun? We sure do! And that’s why we’re hard at work planning the first ever Vancouver Cocktail Week, presented by The Alchemist magazine, to be held March 6 through 9, 2022.
The festivities will kick off with the Punch Brunch, a reprise of the successful event held in January 2020 at Botanist at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. It featured a gourmet five-course brunch created by chef Hector Laguna and paired with cocktails crafted by five of Vancouver’s top bartenders: Sean McGuigan, Sabrine Dhaliwal, Katie Ingram, Jeff Savage, and Amber Bruce.
Even before the pandemic devastated bars, restaurants and the people who work in them, the BC Hospitality Foundation was there to help with scholarships and financial aid for those dealing with medical issues.
Now the BCHF has partnered with Univins and Spirits on a fundraiser that will quench both thirsts and financial needs.
• 3 strawberries, divided
• 1 oz Botanist Gin
• 0.75 oz Youth Cordial (see recipe below)
• 0.75 oz lemon juice
• 2.5 oz Champagne or other sparkling wine
After months and months of being cooped up at home, there’s one thing we know for sure: We’re going to be spending a lot more time outside this summer.
So in the Spring/Summer 2021 issue of the Alchemist, we celebrate the patio.
The vibrant orange hue of an Aperol Spritz is as cheerful as a sunny day, its refreshing flavour as uplifting as happy hour itself.
The spritz combines effervescent Prosecco with bittersweet Aperol, an aperitif that is low in alcohol (only 11% ABV), but high in flavour. A subtler version of its cousin Campari, Aperol’s flavour derives from gentian, rhubarb, cinchona and other botanicals that whet the appetite and quench the thirst.
• 3 oz Prosecco
• 2 oz Aperol
• 1 oz soda
• Garnish: orange slice
Plexiglas is so 2020.
With dividers now the norm in restaurants and bars, more places are getting creative with their pandemic shields. As long as partitions are “washable, rigid and impermeable” and measure at least 1.2 metres from the tabletop, pretty much anything goes.
Michael Armistead thought organizing the 2019 World Class Canada finals in Whistler—where he had to transport all the bars, people and gear to the top of a mountain—was the hardest thing he’d ever do. Then along came COVID-19 and the 2021 finals in Toronto.
“Having done it, I know we can do anything now,” says Armistead, who oversees the Diageo World Class Canada Bartending Competition as National On Premise, Reserve and Sponsorship Manager. “With all of the external factors, this was the most complex event I have ever put together.”
BC Distilled—Canada’s largest spirits festival devoted exclusively to local artisan distilleries—remains on hiatus until 2022. But in the meantime, its organizers have partnered with five of the province’s top artisan distilleries to benefit a cause that has long been dear to their hearts.
Beginning Saturday, May 15, and for one month only, five limited-edition spirits will be made available exclusively from each participating distillery. $45 from each bottle sale will go directly to Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS), which breeds, raises and trains fully certified assistance dogs for individuals with mobility and hearing disabilities and PTSD.