Vancouver’s dearly departed haunted house-themed bar resurrected in North Van for Halloween

The spirits have been scheming at the craft distillery

North Van’s Sons of Vancouver distillery has resurrected the short-lived Dark Manor Inn, the haunted house-themed bar that closed in 2019, for its 2024 Halloween celebrations. Photo courtesy of Sons of Vancouver

It’s alive! For the duration of spooky season, Vancouver’s dearly departed haunted house-themed cocktail bar has been resurrected as a pop-up experience at a popular craft distillery.

Sons of Vancouver has brought back The Dark Manor Inn, the quirky and short-lived cocktail bar that never made it to its first Halloween, by way of decor and inspired sips taken right from the late watering hole, which closed in the summer of 2019. (The Dark Manor, which was tied to Vancouver’s popular Shameful Tiki Room, ran out of a Fraser Street address that next became the Michelin Guide-endorsed Say Mercy! restaurant.)

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Great world bars we love: The Alice at The Randolph Hotel

At The Alice, there are delightful surprises around every corner. Photo courtesy Graduate Hotels

Touches of Wonderland can be found throughout Oxford. The centuries-old city has long been home to some of the world’s top minds, yet it also fully embraces the playful madness of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book’s author, Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), was a mathematician at Oxford University and touches of the city and its people made their way into his work. Now, nearly 130 years after Alice was first published, the city pays back that love in kind by incorporating Carroll’s work into its culture.

A good cocktail bar should feel like stepping through the looking glass and that’s exactly you will experience at The Alice, located inside the historic Randolph Hotel, a building as old as the story itself.

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Getting tipsy with Bar Pompette

Canada’s top bar is just a welcoming neighbourhood joint at heart

Canada’s No. 1 bar, Pompette has the welcoming vibe of a casual French bistro, but serious technique and skill go into every cocktail. Instagram/barpompette_to photo

Recently named the country’s No.1 bar by Canada’s 100 Best and listed among North America’s 50 Best Bars, Bar Pompette is one of Toronto’s favourite gems. Pompette is inviting and unpretentious, a bar that feels both cozy and elegant. Step inside and it feels like a French café, its minimalist setting featuring a gorgeous marble bar and a romantic patio in the back. And the name “Pompette” in itself, meaning “slightly tipsy,” reflects the bar’s fun, playful personality.

I spoke with co-founders Maxime Hoerth and Hugo Togni, both from France and with high-end hotel and restaurant backgrounds, about their passion for the industry, their move from France and what it took to establish such a presence in Toronto.

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Where to drink right now in Las Vegas

Old school glam reigns supreme at Collins at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Photo courtesy of Collins at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas

The bar scene is smoking hot (especially in the summer months!) in Las Vegas. These days on the Strip, it seems that every casino resort has not just opulent lobby and restaurant bars but also hidden cocktail dens (from high-class, vintage-spirits focused The Vault behind the Bellagio cashier’s cage to no less than four speaks at the Cosmopolitan!). In a city where you can drink 24-7, here are some stellar spots, focusing on the current hot zone to the north of the Strip to the local-favourite neighbourhoods beyond. With all the concerts and entertainment coming up in the desert, there are plenty of reasons to beat the heat inside a cool bar this summer.

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Where to drink right now in New Orleans

Post-Mardi Gras and before Tales of the Cocktail is the best time to visit NOLA: The cocktail scene is hot, and the weather not-yet swampy.

The Brandy Crusta is the crown jewel of Jewel of the South. Facebook.com/jewelfothesouthnola photo

Bar Stars

Jewel of the South

A 20-year vet of the New Orleans bar scene, co-owner Chris Hannah presides most nights over this restaurant bar, shaking up his perfected Brandy Crusta and other iconic drinks. Though you can hit it on a Wednesday for Casual Caviar happy hour, or dine lavishly on the likes of tripe, pig head and beef tongue made into savoury dinner plates, the bar itself hits hard enough to have landed at No. 5 on North America’s 50 Best Bars and be named the Best Bar in the South in 2023.

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A Vancouver Prophecy: New cocktail bar opening in historic downtown basement

It’ll open later this year.

Prophecy, a new cocktail bar in downtown Vancouver, will be opening under Hotel Georgia. Prophecy/Instagram/Kianna Panico/Pexels

A new cocktail bar is coming to downtown Vancouver.

All the way down.

Prophecy will be making its home in Rosewood Hotel Georgia, specifically the “hotel’s historic basement,” according to the new bar’s website.

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Where to Drink Right Now in Whistler

Whether it’s for après or waiting out a no-snow day, the mountain village has plenty of fine drinking options. And if what you crave most is a beer while watching the game in good company, you’ll find the locals huddled at Stinky’s on the Stroll and other casual watering holes!

The Phoenix cocktail at Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar. Charlene Rooke photo

Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar

Whistler’s most-lauded new restaurant is fronted by a big, beautiful, boomerang-shaped bar, just as pleasant a place to while away an evening as the plush, shiny dining room: the full menu is available at the bar, and service is superb. Crush a plate of raw oysters with a Martini (there are six on the menu, but ask for one made with Copperpenny 006 Oyster Shell gin), and try creative mixology like the Phoenix, a Lot 40 Rye sipper fortified with Cocchi Americano Rosa and sherry, and topped with Laphroaig for a smoldering, savoury finish. A helpful glossary of “Intriguing Techniques & Ingredients” is your cheat sheet to deciphering some of the complex culinary-bar techniques used here. The B.C. edition of Fernet Hunter (a collab with Endeavor Snowboards) is available here, and would make an amazing amaro caldo on a chilly day.

Watch for: An eye-popping $49 deal this winter for a three-course menu during the week (Sunday through Thursday).

@wildbluerestaurant

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A world of flavours

At The Watson, it’s all about a laidback vibe and well-travelled cocktails

The Watson’s bar manager, Jordan Coelho, experiments with flavours he’s discovered around the world. Chelsea Brown photo

The late afternoon light filters through the window, casting a lazy haze over Main Street’s newest bar, The Watson.

The crew preps for opening, whirring around the dark wood and green leather interior accented with marble and gold fixtures. The space feels simultaneously Parisian yet West Coast, Art Deco yet contemporary.

Bar manager and partner Jordan Coelho says he wanted it to feel like a library and gestures to the apothecary shelf behind the bar that he hopes to deck out with homemade bitters. Their house-blend amaro already sits in pride of place, aging in Woodford Reserve barrels.

As opening approaches, shakers are already ringing out in the capable hands of bartender Thomas Dodds (previously of The Diamond).

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Peek inside this hidden new Vancouver cocktail and raw bar before it officially opens

Look for the sign and go up the stairs to this sexy, intimate spot for drinks and snacks—soon!

Ama is a new Japanese-inspired cocktail and raw bar hidden above a Michelin Guide-recommended Greek restaurant in Vancouver. Lindsay William-Ross/V.I.A. photo

The only tell that there is a sexy, intimate Japanese-inspired cocktail and raw bar tucked in the space above a bustling Fraser Street Greek restaurant is the clever metal sign positioned above eye level to the right of an unadorned orange-hued door.

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Miami-inspired Vancouver bar with food and live entertainment sets opening date

Get ready for a spicy taste of Miami right here in Vancouver