Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
• 1 oz Hendricks Gin
• 0.75 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
• 1.5 oz cranberry juice
• 0.25 oz lemon juice
• Sparkling wine
Consider them the supporting actors of the cocktail world: complex, helpful and a little bitter. Vermouths, aperitifs and amaros are typically fortified wines—though some are sweet enough to be considered liqueurs—flavoured with botanicals such as citrus peel, spices, roots and herbs. They typically have a somewhat bitter profile, hence the name “amaro,” which means bitter in Italian.
It takes a sophisticated palate to appreciate a good bitter drink, so not too surprisingly, Vancouver bartenders were eager to sample the best of B.C. amaros. We sat down with Alex Black of Tableau Bar Bistro, Amber Bruce of The Keefer Bar, cocktail consultant Sabrine Dhaliwal, Robyn Gray of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia and The Botanist’s Jeff Savage to get at the bitter truth.
Sometimes we think November might actually be our favourite month. Unpopular opinion, we know! But think about it… In this dark and dreary month alone there’s returning faves like Whistler Cornucopia, EAT! Vancouver and Hawkers Market, as well as a caviar festival, a dumpling fest and something called Swine Out Vancouver, just to name a few. It’s a smorgasbord of food and drink par-tays. But the granddaddy of them all might have to be Hopscotch Festival.
It’s been a minute since we’ve had to worry about those pesky little things called grades, but for distillers like Saanichton’s de Vine Wines & Spirits, report card day still comes around each year with the release of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible and the reviews and scores therein.
To chants of “Back to back!” on Thanksgiving weekend, Chris Enns of the Lobby Bar at the Fairmont Pacific Rim made it into the top-20 round at the Diageo Reserve World Class competition in Berlin. Australia’s Orlando Marzo took home the overall title this year, but Enns made it all the way to number eight in the world, with a trio of Vancouverites cheering him on—last year’s global winner, Kaitlyn Stewart of Royal Dinette, as well as previous World Class Canada winners Lauren Mote and Grant Sceney. “Until next time, friends,” Enns said on Facebook. “May your hearts be filled with love and your glasses filled with World Class cocktails.”
• 2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
• 1 oz acidified parsnip juice
• 0.75 oz bee pollen syrup
• 3 dashes Hay and Burdock Root Bitters
• 1 egg white
• 2 oz Hornitos Black Barrel Reposado Anejo Tequila
• 0.25 oz Squid Ink Simple Syrup
• 2 Dashes J.T. Own Decanter Bitters
• 5 Drops Saline
• 1 oz Brandy
• 1 oz Glühwein
• 0.5oz Grand Marnier
• 0.5oz Blandy’s Madeira
• 0.5oz Orange Juice
• 0.5oz Lemon Juice
• Dash Angostura Bitters
• 2 oz chilled red wine
• 0.5 oz bourbon
• 0.25 oz simple syrup
The tenth edition of B.C.’s only magazine dedicated to local distilleries and cocktail culture returns with all the warming flavours you’ll crave for the chilly months ahead.