• 1 oz. Queensborough Gin
• 1 teaspoon Elderflower Cordial
• 1 teaspoon Dry Vermouth
• Hopping Mad Apple Cider
• Thin green apple slices
QB Spring Into Gin Cocktail
QB Blackberry Zest Cocktail
• 1 oz. Queensborough Gin
• 1 teaspoon Sweet Red Vermouth
• 3 fresh blackberries
• Tonic water
• Orange zest
Royal Flush
Central City’s newly-released gin pays homage to its B.C. roots
It’s not often the new kid on the block walks away with a major international award the very week of its launch, but that’s exactly what Surrey-based Central City Brewers and Distillers’ newest offering accomplished earlier this year; their Queensborough Gin garnered a gold medal at the Spirits International Prestige (SIP) Awards.
Local Negroni
• 0.25oz Sheringham Seaside Gin
• 0.5oz Odd Society Bittersweet Vermouth
• 0.5oz deVine Moderna Vermouth
• 0.75oz The Woods Amaro
Parkside “Sip ‘n’ Slide” Raddler
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 oz. Okanagan Spirits Gin
• 0.5 oz. Okanagan Spirits Rhubarb Liqueur
• 2 oz. freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice
• 3 dashes Bittered Sling Grapefruit & Hops Bitters
• 3 oz. Parkside Graffiti IPA
METHOD:
Add all ingredients except beer to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake hard for 15 seconds. Fine strain into a pilsner glass, top with Parkside Beer. Garnish with a fresh grapefruit wedge.
The last word: The classic Gibson
“Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
—Bette Davis as Margo Channing—Gibson in hand—in the classic 1950 movie, All About Eve.
Mad Laboratory Distilling
Truly handmade using a small homebrew mill and a pump, Mad Laboratory’s vodka is triple distilled and carbon filtered from Armstrong barley and Champagne yeast.
119-618 East Kent Ave., Vancouver
madlabdistilling.com
PRODUCTS:
• ULKERaki
• Mad Lab Vodka
• Viking Vodka
• Mad Lab Gin6
• Mad Dog Single Malt White Spirit
• Chocolate Spiced Mad Dog Single Malt
• Kombucha Cordials
• Pre-mixed cocktails
TASTING NOTES:
Mad Lab Vodka
FRAGRANCE: Clean, light fragrance of sweet wheat, vanilla, and hints of doughy bread.
FLAVOUR: Very smooth, lightly sweet with notes of black pepper, hint of vanilla.
FEEL: Silky and dry.
FINISH: Super clean, lightly creamy.
BEST ENJOYED: Stirred, straight up with a twist.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Brand new distillery, only the 4th batch made; Mad Lab nailed it. —Wendy McGuinness, July 2016
Mad Lab Gin
FRAGRANCE: Sweet and fruity.
FLAVOUR: Clean and citrusy.
FEEL: Tickling mouth-feel.
FINISH: Spicy, biting.
BEST ENJOYED: In a White Lady (gin, Cointreau, lemon).
THE BOTTOM LINE: A six-botanical cucumber gin that is delicate and nuanced. Very clean tasting. —Robyn Gray, February 2017
Mad Dog Single Malt White Spirit
FRAGRANCE: A brewery in the morning. Lovely.
FLAVOUR: Toasted pumpernickel bread.
FEEL: Punchy, then round.
FINISH: Honey. Long and sweet.
BEST ENJOYED: As a sour. Heavy on the angostura, or even with 10 ml of amaro.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Not sure about the white whisky trend, but this is a good indicator of the aged spirit Mad Dog will produce. —Josh Pape, October 2017
Ginapalooza 2016
The second annual Canadian celebration of all things gin, Ginapalooza, hit bars across Vancouver in June, with a public vote on the best bespoke beverages served.
Tearing up the city’s cocktail scene right now, Royal Dinette’s Kaitlyn Stewart took first place with Rock, which included lavender honey mead and Concord grape vinegar.
Tied for the runner-up spot was Justin Taylor’s Cascade Room entry, Bear Essentials.
The other runner-up was Yew Restaurant’s Firefighter, created by Phil Srigley.
Shaun Layton’s craft Juniper G&T came in third.
Gin fizz
The gin and tonic is sophisticated again
Jason Redmond expected to be impressed by many things about Spain, but he couldn’t have guessed the biggest takeaway from his trip last summer would be a new take on a humble highball.
“I was really surprised at the big signs outside all the little cafes and bars claiming they were selling the best ‘Gin Tonic,’” the bar manager of Whistler’s Spanish-influenced Bar Oso recalls.
“It was a really big deal, and one I had no idea about beforehand.”
Bittersweet symphony
The latest twist in the tale of the Negroni
For a drink so simple, the Negroni is one impressively complicated cocktail.
It contains only three ingredients—equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari—but those three ingredients comprise a world of flavours and aromas: bitter, sweet, citrus, floral, herbal, spicy, medicinal. It has a sexy backstory, except that it isn’t true.