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• 1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
• 1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino (or other sweet vermouth)
• 2 dashes Fernet Branca
Chill a coupe glass with water and ice. In a mixing glass, add ingredients with ice and stir gently for about 20 seconds. Strain into the coupe and garnish with a slice of orange peel. Serves 1.
De Vine Spirits. Byron Smith/Tank Five photo.
Spirits were high at the fifth annual BC Distilled festival at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver on April 14, which brought together 40 artisan distilleries from around the province, including a dozen new distilleries that have opened in the last year.
You’re thirsty. There’s a bar full of things to drink. You’d think nothing would be simpler than quenching your thirst, right? Not so fast.
We’ve all had those disappointing cocktails that left us wondering what went wrong. That’s because there’s an art to ordering a drink, a good drink at least, and it’s both simple and complex.
I didn’t pull up a stool to a proper bar—by which I mean one whose stock-in-trade is cocktails, and whose staff is formally schooled in the art of same—until my early 30s. A variety of reasons contributed to this delayed milestone, including having been raised in a near-teetotal household, in a small city whose population overwhelmingly prefers beer, coupled with early teenage drinking experiences (usually at a suburban house party or in some miserable pitch-black field) of the sort that seem contrived to ensure one never wants to drink again.
Distillery visits aren’t just for spirits geeks—although staff (even the distillers) are usually keen to tour guests through the production line. Even micro-distilleries now offer flights, cocktails and tastings, some spiked with snacks or entertainment. More reasons to visit: You can buy bottles right from the source, including seasonal and limited releases, only-at-the-distillery products (such as collaborations with local brewers or food producers) and even cocktail accoutrements. Since many distillery tasting rooms are small, family-run affairs, call ahead or check social media for hours, especially if your group is more than a few or would like a tour.
INGREDIENTS:
• 1.5 oz Long Table London Dry Gin
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.75 oz rhubarb syrup (see note)
• 1 dash Ms. Better’s Green Strawberry Mah Kwan bitters
METHOD:
Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add ice. Give it a hard shake, then fine-strain into a chilled coupe. If you like, garnish with a dried citrus wheel, preferably blood orange. Serves 1.
INGREDIENTS:
• 1.5 oz Odd Society Wallflower Gin
• 0.5 oz Sheringham Akvavit
• 0.4 oz Martini Bianco Vermouth infused with vanilla (see note)
• 0.25 oz Rose Wintergreen syrup
• 0.5 oz citric acid
• 4 dashes Dillon’s ginseng bitters
• Garnish: Lemon zest
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 oz Lohin Mckinnon single malt
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 0.5 oz salted caramel sauce (see recipe below)
• 2 dashes rosemary bitters
• Garnish: Orange zest
It was a scene that might have been straight out of Prohibition—were this not 2018.
On the morning of January 19, 2018, plainclothes teams of B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Branch agents descended upon two licensed establishments in Vancouver and Nanaimo: Fets Whisky Kitchen and The Grand Hotel. Later that day, in Victoria, they visited The Union Club and Little Jumbo Cocktail Bar. What were they after? Illicit booze, grey market goods being sold as the real thing, or maybe something even more heinous?