A celebratory cocktail for your Kentucky Derby viewing party.
• 1 oz The Glenrothes 12 Year Old
• 1 sugar cube soaked in bitters
• Prosecco
The Golden Dram
The Glenrothes Julep
Try a Scottish spin on the classic Derby Cocktail—The Mint Julep. Switch your bourbon for The Glenrothes 12 Year Old and enjoy the Glenrothes Julep!
• 2 oz The Glenrothes 12 Year Old
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons water
• 4 fresh mint leaves (plus additional for garnish)
Sugar and spice
The Alchemist tasting panel gathers for a round of Caribbean aged rums
Nothing says “tropical getaway” like the sweetly spiced flavour of rum. Although it is made all over the world, the sugar-cane spirit originated in the Caribbean islands, where we’re seeing a surge of richly complex aged rums. So when The Alchemist decided to dive into tiki culture, it made sense for our tasting panel to sample as many aged rums as possible.
Just how sweet can rum be? To find out, we gathered at Tableau Bar Bistro with some of the city’s top barkeeps: Alex Black, bar manager of Wildebeest; Max Borrowman, bar manager at Juniper Kitchen; Amber Bruce of The Keefer Bar; Sabrine Dhaliwal, cocktail consultant and Pourhouse bartender; Adam Domet, bar manager of Pourhouse; J-S Dupuis, beverage director of Wentworth Hospitality; Robyn Gray of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia; Ryan Johnson, bar manager of Tuc Craft Kitchen; and Olivia Povarchook, bar manager of Juke Fried Chicken.
The panel tasted 10 different rums; here’s what they had to say about them.
Tropical dreams
Tiki is back in Vancouver. Why did it ever go away?
Tiki culture is a liquid ticket to an imaginary tropical island where the breeze is always warm, the music sways like the branches of a palm tree, and the rum flows as easily as the waves that wash up on a sandy beach.
Tiki originated in California in 1933, but exploded in popularity after the Second World War. It was inspired by the romance of the South Pacific, the culture of Polynesia, the flavours of Asia and the rum punches of the Caribbean, making it the ultimate fusion cocktail experience, served in a kitschy-cool Hollywood-ready vessel to a market that was weary of war and ready to party.
Scorpion
Originally a blender drink from Beachbum Berry, and traditionally served as a bowl for six with a gardenia garnish at Trader Vic’s, the Scorpion makes a terrific single-serving shaken drink, too. Just beware of its lethal sting.
• 2 oz light rum
• 1 oz brandy
• 1.5 oz orange juice
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 0.75 oz orgeat
Three Dots and a Dash
The garnish says it all. The three cherries are the dots, the pineapple wedge the dash, representing the letter “V” in Morse code, which was the symbol for “victory” during the Second World War.
• 1.5 oz rhum agricole or demerara rum
• 0.5 oz aged blended rum
• 0.5 oz orange juice
• 0.5 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz honey syrup (see note)
• 0.25 oz falernum
• 0.25 oz pimento dram (see recipe)
• 1 dash angostura bitters
• Garnish: 3 cherries and 1 wedge of fresh pineapple
Startup building a buzz with Nude soda lineup
Brand moving into new markets as demand increases for vodka and gin sodas
Photo MIKE WAKEFIELD, NORTH SHORE NEWS
When North Shore native Maddy Amisano began working with Nude, the new B.C. startup focusing on canned, carbonated soda alternatives to beer and coolers, they had sales of a hundred grand. Two years later the young company is now at just under 10 million.
Amisano grew up on the North Shore attending Windridge Park Preschool, Plymouth Elementary and Windsor Secondary schools, as well as playing team sports with the North Shore Girls Soccer Club and Mount Seymour Little League.
At Nude, she started out in operations as the company’s first employee.
Pimento Dram
This is a simple spice-flavoured liqueur that makes a great addition to tiki and other cocktails. Note that it will take about a week to infuse, so plan accordingly.
• 2 Tbsp whole allspice berries
• 0.5 cup light or dark rum (whichever you prefer)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 0.5 cup water
• 0.5 cup brown sugar
TIKI BAR Punch Bowl
• 5 oz aged rum
• 2 oz cognac
• 6 oz falernum
• 6 oz oleo saccharum (see note)
• 3 oz pineapple juice
• 8 oz sparkling wine
The Old Fashioned may be tops, but bring on the Bamboo!
In January, Drinks International, a trade publication for the alcohol industry, released its annual list of the 50 best cocktails—or at least the best-selling ones—around the world. It’s perhaps no big surprise that the top drink, for the fifth year running, was that classic whisky-based bittered sling, the Old Fashioned.