Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
If there were any lingering doubts that Vancouver has become a world-class cocktail city, Kaitlyn Stewart has just laid them to rest.
Bored with the same old watering holes? Well, you’re in luck, because Botanist is getting ready to shake up Vancouver’s cocktail scene.
It’s hard to believe that just five years ago, British Columbia had fewer than 10 artisan distilleries. Today, the province has at least 40, with a whole bunch more in the works.
Nothing says Monday morning quite like arriving at a bar at 10.30 a.m. ready to drink all day. The scene at Main Street’s Cascade Room is organized chaos. Bartenders, usually never seen out before noon, are slugging coffee offered both straight up or spiked.
There are crates and boxes all over the place. Recognizable labels of Scotch, rye, mescal, Cognac and more jostle beside unlabelled bottles of homemade fat-washed and syrupy concoctions. This is clearly a serious affair.
At Yaletown’s Revolución Cigar & Fine Gifts, Paul Agelidis welcomes clients from all over the world, curious to see his unique lifestyle products. Revolución is also a favourite for celebrities , including Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Harrison Ford.
It may not be immediately obvious, but politics and cocktails have an affinity to rival gin and vermouth.
J-S Dupuis, bar manager at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar agrees. “The history of spirits and politics — they’ve always gone hand in hand.”
For some, inspiration comes by way of music, meditation or motivational speeches.
Jean-Marc Dykes’ unexpected light-bulb moment came in 2015, in the bowels of a tall ship while mixing drinks for friends.
Katie Ingram is a sucker for history. The head bartender of Gastown’s L’Abbatoir is talking pisco, the South American spirit that shows up in sours the world over, and in no time at all, she’s taken us right back to the Ice Age.
Spain was foremost in Jamie Stolar’s mind when she took over as General Manager of Vancouver tapas restaurant Cabrito. Looking to pay homage in a cocktail, Stolar let her mind drift back to sunny days spent on the Balearic island of Formentera. “The island has rosemary shrubs growing all over the place,” she recalls. “With the intense heat, all you could smell was that rosemary.”