Justin Taylor’s Zombie Punch serves a crowd! Dan Toulgoet photo
This tiki punch recipe serves a crowd—so find some friends to help you out!
• 6 oz añejo rum
• 6 oz dark Jamaican rum
• 4 oz high-proof rum (such as Lamb’s Navy 151)
• 3 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1.5 oz freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
• 3 oz falernum
• 1 oz pomegranate juice
• 2 tsp Pernod
• 10 oz filtered water
Garnish:
• 5 sprigs mint
• 3 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half
• 6 wheels grapefruit
If you love local spirits, mark your calendar for the most important event of the year: the sixth annual BC Distilled festival, which will be held April 6 at Vancouver’s Croatian Cultural Centre.
The wood wowed them. It seems the judges at the ninth annual Canadian Whisky Awards were impressed by what a little extra barrel-aging can accomplish, naming Bearface Triple Oak Best New Whisky, and awarding it a gold medal for excellence as well.
From East and West, bartenders move on to the regional finals of the Diageo World Class competition
Chris Enns, bartender at Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel, is the World Class Canada Bartender of the Year 2018. Photo courtesy of Diageo World Class Canada
Since the beginning of January, Canada’s bartenders have been perfecting their recipes, practising their techniques and preparing for their moment in the spotlight at the Diageo World Class Canada cocktail competition.
On March 1, 13 bartenders from Eastern Canada and 13 from the West made it through to the Regional Finals, which will be held in Toronto and Calgary in late March. From there, five winners from East and West will go on to the National Final in June. The winner of that event will compete in the global final of the world’s biggest, most prestigious bartending competition, which will be held in Glasgow at the end of September.
Monashee Spirits Ethos Gin was named Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year. Eliisa Meaghan photo
For the second year in a row, a small-batch spirit from British Columbia is the Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year. Last year, it was Sheringham Distillery’s Akvavit. This year Monashee Spirits Ethos Gin from Revelstoke was not only the best-in-class Canadian gin, but scored highest of any entry in the entire competition.
Michael Hallman’s A-Star uses Monashee Spirits’ peaflower-infused Ethos Gin
• 2 oz Monashee Spirits Ethos Gin infused with Butterfly Pea flowers (color changing gin)
• 0.5 oz Maraschino Cherry Liqueur
• 0.25 oz Lavender Simple Syrup
• 0.25 oz Fresh Lemon juice
Amber Bruce won the cocktail competition for her riff on a Manhattan. Photo by Isabella Sarmiento for Science of Cocktails
There was ice and fire, CO2 and NO2, test tubes and copper tubing and all sorts of mysterious gadgets. Most of all, there was great food and drink in support of an even greater cause.
The city’s top bartenders gathered in February at Telus World of Science for the fourth annual Science of Cocktails event, where they demonstrated the myriad ways science contributes to cocktail culture.