Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
A new cocktail-focused bar lounge is getting ready to open in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.
Nestled in the perfect middle between casual and fine dining, The Watson will bring a refreshing, upscale element to Main Street – something that Michael Gayman, who owns the wine and charcuterie bar Bartholomew in Yaletown, feels has been missing in the area for some time.
Just like summer, Home Bar is bringing the heat! Spicy drinks aren’t new, but have recently experienced a popularity boom, whether the heat comes from hot sauce, fresh jalapeños or spicy spirits.
We’ll be making something more dynamic and versatile than just popping jalapeños into a bottle of tequila. Chili liqueur allows for balanced, nuanced flavours, can be added or substituted into drinks, and can be as fiery as desired. Or, if you prefer, you can make a chili syrup for all your zero-proof drinks.
When you think bottled or canned cocktails—those commercially-produced beverages known in industry shorthand as “RTD” for “ready to drink”—you might conjure up the same imagery as Vancouver’s Please! Beverage Co.’s founder, Noel Steen: shotgunning a can on a boat.
The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts by Camper English
As you’re sweltering under yet another heat dome, let this renowned expert in all things cocktail cool you down with his treatise on the unsung hero of every drink. This handy guide offers everything you need to know about directional freezing, carving ice into diamonds, embedding it with garnishes and dozens of other frosty projects.
Sunny days demand thirst-quenching cocktails like Margaritas, Palomas and Ranch Water, which all just happen to be a showcase for tequila. And that might just make tequila our favourite summer spirit.
This is the season of celebrations—weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, coronations—and that makes it a season that cries out for something pretty and sparkly in a glass. Luckily, Trevor Kallies, the bar and beverage director of Freehouse Collective, has just what we’re craving.
The Margarita is a splash of happiness, the quintessential summer cocktail and one of the most popular drinks in the world. Whether you like it frozen or on the rocks, in a pre-dinner coupette, a plastic cup poolside or poured from a pitcher, it’s a classic that hits all the right notes with the bitterness of tequila, the tartness of fresh lime, the sweetness of orange liqueur and the salt, which heightens all the flavours.
• 1.5 oz tequila 1800 blanco
• 1.5 oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.5 oz Cointreau or other triple sec
• 0.5 oz hibiscus syrup (see note)
• Garnish: Dried hibiscus flower
• 2 oz jalapeño-infused reposado tequila (see note)
• 1 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz agave water (2 parts agave syrup to 3 parts water)
• Garnish: Tajín Clásico Seasoning rim