Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
It might be called EAT! Vancouver, but we’re here for the drinks.
Which is why we were thrilled to discover that the annual foodie festival is returning to Vancouver Nov. 5-10 with more than 37 acclaimed chefs and 18 events, including a luxurious all-new cognac event.
The Sidecar is one of the great Prohibition-era classics, a boozy-but-vibrant three-ingredient cocktail that fulfills our desire for both the depth of brown spirits and the bright acidity of citrus. It should be a rock star among cocktails, yet where Old Fashioneds, tiki drinks and even the horrible Gimlet have made their comebacks, the Sidecar has somehow eluded its just recognition amid the modern cocktail revival.
It’s time for that to change.
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 oz (45 mL) Cognac or brandy
1 oz (30 mL) Cointreau
0.5 oz (15 mL) lemon juice
1.5 oz (45 mL) blood orange juice
METHOD:
Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Fine strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Serves 1.
Don your fascinators and fedoras, raise your cocktail coupes, and you’re off to the races for the ninth annual Deighton Cup.
—Charles Dickens, while travelling in America (1842)
Every cocktail starts with a base spirit. Every home cocktail bar should do the same. The question is, what spirits do you really need to stock at home? What’s worth spending money on (and what isn’t)? After all, those bright, shiny bottles can be expensive.
• 1 sugar cube
• Dash Angostura bitters
• 1 tsp Cognac or Grand Marnier (optional)
• Champagne or sparkling wine
• 1.5 oz gin or Cognac
• 0.5 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp simple syrup
• Champagne or sparkling wine
INGREDIENTS:
750ml bottle red wine
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice, pulp removed
0.5 cup granulated sugar
0.5 cup brandy or Cognac
2 tsp whole cloves
3 unpeeled mandarins, washed and cut into quarters
2 apples cored and quartered
1 cup frozen cranberries
4 cinnamon sticks
3 sprigs of rosemary
METHOD:
Add wine, orange juice and sugar into a large pot over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Stud mandarins with cloves and add, along with remaining ingredients, to pot. Cook gently for two hours (take care not to boil off the alcohol). Remove from heat and allow to cool, then strain through a sieve, pressing down to extract the juices from the cranberries and mandarins. Store up to one week in fridge. To serve, heat in a crockpot on low, or in a pan over low heat. Do not boil. Garnish with mandarin segments, apple slices, cinnamon sticks and cranberries. Makes 12, five oz. servings.