Tea Ceremony

Gabriel Li photo courtesy of MIMI Chinese

Ingredients:

5 oz Grey Goose vodka

1.75 oz Lillet Blanc

0.75 oz Strega

2 oz lemon juice

1.5 oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and warm water)

2 oz black wolfberry tea

2 oz cold-brewed jasmine tea

3 oz coconut milk

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Greyhound

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When made with quality ingredients, this vodka highball is refreshing, versatile and deliciousand as easy to make as it is to enjoy.

2 oz vodka 

4 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice 

Garnish: Grapefruit peel or wedge

Optional: Salted rim (for a Salty Dog)

Optional: 0.5 oz Campari (for an Italian Greyhound)

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Yummy umami: Global savoury spirits to try

Look for these savoury spirits on your travels

Inspired by the wild and salty Norfolk coast, Bullard’s Coastal Gin is handcrafted using foraged ingredients like marsh samphire and Douglas fir pine needles. Facebook.com/bullardsgin photo

If you like seaweed-kissed Sheringham Seaside and Isle of Harris gins, try maritime-inspired U.K. bottles like Bullard’s Coastal Gin, Fishers Gin, Da Mhile Organic Seaweed Gin and Mermaid Salt Vodka, as well as North Vancouver’s Copperpenny Gin No. 006 Oyster Shell (a collaboration with Fanny Bay Oysters).

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Nitro Espresso Martini

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If you work in a bar with a draft system, it’s relatively easy to put an Espresso Martini on tap and let the nitrogen do its magic. For home bartenders, here’s how to get a similar effect using an iSi nitrogen dispenser. (Recipe adapted from iSi.com.)

• 10 oz cold brew coffee

• 2 oz coffee liqueur

• 4 oz vodka

• 1 oz simple or vanilla syrup

• Garnish: coffee beans

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Espresso Martini

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The key to this cocktail is using hot espresso—if the coffee is cold, it won’t form the “crema,” the creamy foam on top that is the drink’s signature. The three coffee beans represent health, wealth and happiness.

• 2 oz vodka

• 0.5 oz coffee liqueur (such as Kahlúa)

• 1 oz espresso, freshly brewed and hot

• 0.5 oz simple syrup (or to taste) 

• Garnish: coffee beans

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Orange liqueur

Getty Images photo. Beat the Triple Sec shortage by making your own orange liqueur. Getty Images photo

Short of triple sec? Make your own

It seems there will be no end to the supply chain issues that have drained back bars of essential spirits these past two years. This summer, for instance, it looks like we’re facing a shortage of Aperol, just in time for spritz season, so drink up while you can.

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Line Item

Line Item cocktail. Photo courtesy of Freehouse Collective

This vodka-based cocktail from The Stock Room incorporates two different floral notes (lavender and hibiscus) for an exceptionally refreshing flavour profile. 

• 2 oz Absolut vodka

• 0.5 oz lavender syrup (note below)

• 1 oz lemon juice

• 3 to 4 oz Oddity Hibiscus Mint Kombucha

• Garnish: lavender or hibiscus flower or mint sprig

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Hive & Soul

Bar Susu’s Hive & Soul cocktail. Sarah Annand photo

Bar Susu’s “briny Martini” cocktail, created by Joe Casson, rides a perfectly seasoned knife edge of sweet and savoury, and is called “Hive & Soul” because of the live element of the fermented honey. Note that it should be served in a “super-cute vintage coupe.”

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