Canada's only magazine dedicated to distillers, spirits and cocktail culture.
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.
Ever since the first drops of elixir trickled from a local craft still more than a decade ago, whisky lovers have been waiting to taste a true made-in-BC single malt.
And now, we can.
“Ready for the tour?” Patrick Evans asks with a chuckle. I climb into the 4×4 expecting a leisurely ride through Shelter Point Distillery’s expansive property.
I am mistaken: Evans hits the gas and we’re off-roading into the bush faster than I can say, “I’ll take a wee dram.”
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 oz. Shelter Point Distillery Whisky
• 0.75 oz. lemon juice
• 0.5 oz. clove-infused maple syrup*
• 3 dashes of Bittered Sling Gastown Bitters
• 2 oz. Four Winds Pale Ale
METHOD:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir for 15 seconds. Strain over fresh ice into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with apple slices.
INGREDIENTS:
• 1.5 oz Johnnie Walker Platinum Label Blended Scotch Whisky
• 0.5 oz Lagavulin 16-Year-Old Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• 0.75 oz Punt E Mes
• 0.25 oz Jagermeister Herbal Liqueur
• 2 dashes Bittered Sling Cascade Celery Bitters
• 2 dashes Bittered Sling Moondog Bitters
• 2 dashes Vancouver Island Smoked Sea Salt Water
The romantic Isle of Islay in Scotland’s southern Hebrides is best known for its moors, treacherous weather, high seas, early Viking settlements—and, yes, its whisky. For, buried within that dramatic landscape, exists rich soil redolent with peat, and a water supply heavy with briny minerals. No wonder, then, that Islay is home to some of the finest and most distinctive single malts in the world, among them, Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin.
INGREDIENTS:
• 50ml Merridale Whisky Jack
• 20ml Odd Society Bitter Sweet Vermouth
• 10ml Merridale Apple Cider Brandy
• Dash of Bittered Sling Suius Cherry Bitters
METHOD:
Stir all ingredients and strain into a small coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
After just five years in business, British Columbia’s distillers have already confronted some mighty challenges. For one, it takes years of practice to make a quality product. Plus, craft liquor is expensive—not only for consumers at the till but for makers at the still.
Mike Urban had a booze habit. Making it, that is. After tinkering with homemade beer and wine, he felt that the next logical step could be distilling.