A long weekend of fireworks and barbecues, sparklers and fluttering Maple Leaf flags stretches ahead of us. Happy 150th birthday, Canada! Now, let’s celebrate.
All across the city, our top bartenders are getting the party going by creating new cocktails that honour our country’s best ingredients and greatest drinking traditions.
Most of these cocktails will be on menus all summer long, so you don’t need to try them all in one weekend, even if you do have an extra day in which to do it.
We’ve also provided three recipes (below) from local mixologists so you can shake up your Canada Day party at home.
At the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, afternoon tea has taken on an all-Canadian flavour with mini lobster rolls, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, saskatoon berry compote and, for those who crave something stronger than orange pekoe, the Maple Leaf cocktail, a bracing blend of bourbon, maple syrup, lemon and apple juice (fairmont.com.hotel-vancouver).
Over at the Four Seasons, bartender Jessica Hoffman has created a smoky-sweet take on the Bloody Caesar, Canada’s iconic tomato-clam-vodka cocktail. The Rocky Mountain Caesar features Canadian Club whisky, Clamato, adobo peppers, maple syrup, olive juice, lime and, of course, bacon (yewseafood.com).
The Caesar, invented in 1969 in Calgary and widely acknowledged as Canada’s favourite cocktail, provides a perfect template for bartender creativity, so you can expect to see plenty of variations on it. One we love is the French River at Timber, which is rimmed with Montreal steak spice and garnished with deep-fried cheese curds and bacon (timbervancouver.com).
Nationwide, Hy’s Steakhouse has introduced five regional cocktails – the Vancouver one, called Coastal Wave, features Wayward bourbon barrel-aged gin, Punt e Mes, Benedictine and orange bitters with a salmon jerky garnish (hyssteakhouse.com).
Evoking a rush of a different sort is Royal Dinette bar manager Kaitlyn Stewart’s ’92 & ’93, which pays homage to the Toronto Blue Jays, who won back-to-back World Series titles in the early 1990s. It features tropical flavours of coconut, lime, pineapple and pear sake (royaldinette.ca).
Finally, it wouldn’t be a Canadian celebration if we didn’t also worry about our neighbours to the south. Over at Mamie Taylor’s, owner Ron Oliver and lead bartender Scotty Marshall have combined American peach whiskey and Canadian rye in a wishful nod to the current political climate below the 49th parallel: Impeached Ice Tea. See the recipe below (mamietaylors.ca).
Happy Canada Day, all!
The Great Wild North
This recipe by Max Borrowman, bar manager at Juniper Kitchen + Bar, was inspired by Canada’s rare foraged botanicals, while the gold flakes evoke memories of B.C.’s 1850s and ’60s gold rushes (junipervancouver.com).
1½ oz (45 mL) Ungava gin
½ oz (15 mL) Campari
½ oz (15 mL) lemon juice
½ oz (15 mL) egg white
1/3 oz (10 mL) simple syrup
2 dashes spruce tip tincture (see note)
1 oz (30 mL) rhubarb compote (see note)
For garnish:
1 sprinkle of edible gold flakes (see note)
Spritz of spruce tip tincture
Ground cinnamon
Place all ingredients (except the garnish) in a cocktail shaker and shake without ice. Add ice and shake again. Fine strain into a “Nick and Nora” or other cocktail glass. Garnish with a mist or spray of spruce tip tincture, grated cinnamon and edible gold flakes. Serves 1.
Note: To make the spruce tip tincture, place clean, dry, unsprayed spruce tips in a small mason jar and fill the jar with an over-proof spirit such as vodka. Cover and keep in a cool dark place for a couple of weeks, then strain through cheesecloth. To make rhubarb compote, simmer chopped rhubarb and sugar together until the rhubarb has completely broken down, then purée. Purchase edible gold flakes online at FlourConfections.com or Amazon.ca.
A Mari Usque Ad Mare (pictured, top)
Inspired by the Canadian motto, meaning “Sea to Sea,” L’Abattoir head bartender Katie Ingram updated the classic Vieux Carré cocktail with luxe flavours from east and west coasts, including rum, rye and bitters made from Okanagan haskap berries and sour cherries (labattoir.ca).
3/4 oz (22 mL) Ron Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23 Rum
3/4 oz (22 mL) Crown Royal XO
3/4 oz (22 mL) sweet vermouth
1/4 oz (7 mL) Bénédictine or B&B
Two dashes Bittered Sling Suius Cherry Bitters
Two dashes Bittered Sling Western Haskap Bitters
Garnish:
Spritz of lemon oil
Brandied cherry
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir until desired dilution is achieved. Julep strain into a rocks glass over ice (or, if you prefer, serve neat). Garnish with lemon oil and a brandied cherry. Serves 1.
Impeached Iced Tea
Mamie Taylor’s owner Ron Oliver and lead bartender Scotty Marshall will be serving this spiked tea on July 1 at their eighth annual RibFest competition.
1 oz (30 mL) Old Camp Peach Pecan Whiskey
½ oz (15 mL) Lillet Blanc
½ oz (15 mL) Canadian whisky
3 oz (90 mL) unsweetened iced tea (any black tea will do)
Garnish: Okanagan peach slices
Combine all ingredients except the garnish in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Garnish with peach fan. Enjoy being Canadian. Serves 1.
