COCKTAIL NATION

By CINDA CHAVICH

Special to the Globe and Mail

A guy walks into a bar and orders a Monkey Gland.

Not a joke – just another gin-based cocktail in the Savoy Cocktail Book, an exhaustive collection of tipples recorded by legendary London barman Harry Craddock in 1930. And while Craddock’s Monkey Gland, Mary Pickford or absinthe-based Nineteen-twenty Pick-Me-Up might not be on the menu at your local lounge, both creative contemporary cocktails and those from earlier eras are making a comeback.

“The cocktail has come full circle and we’re in the midst of the second golden age of cocktails,” says Tony Abou-Ganim, an American “master mixologist” who has created cocktails for such notable establishments as Babbo in New York and the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas.

“We’ve skipped a generation of good cocktail drinkers but they’re now learning to appreciate a real Martini or Gibson again, and there are hundreds of lesser known lost and forgotten classics to discover.”

What’s shaking up today’s modern mixologists are global trends, says Abou-Ganim, especially in the U.S. where mixed drinks were born and popularized in the decadent Roaring Twenties. It was Prohibition that sent the cocktail underground and into “American” bars across the pond, like the Savoy’s bar of the same name and Harry’s NY Bar in Paris.

But the cocktail culture survived and is enjoying a resurgence today, influenced by both the culinary trend of fresh, seasonal ingredients, and international flavours, especially Latin traditions.

On the heels of the Cuban Mojito craze, comes the Caipirinha, a strong, lime-flavoured drink, reminiscent of a classic rum daiquiri, but made with Brazilian cachaca (ka-SHA-sa), a spirit distilled from sugar cane juice. The frothy Pisco sour is also popular, a cocktail that includes egg whites, lime juice, sugar and pisco, a brandy with roots in Peru.

Cocktails made with antioxidant-rich acai berry juice – or the new acai berry spirit, Veev – are even being labeled “healthy.” And some bars are advertising themselves as “sustainable,” working with environmental business consultants like Green & Tonic, and shaking up freshly-squeezed local juices with Square One Organic Vodka,.

A survey of top bar tenders across Canada found a couple of other trends, based both on the style of bar and the region of the country. While balance is key – the perfect marriage of strong spirit with sweet and bitter components – today’s cocktails are “longer” than traditional drinks, often shaken with lots of crushed ice and fresh fruit juices or muddled (mashed) with whole fruit and herbs. Infused vodkas, premium gins and sweet liqueurs like Tuaca or Chambord are being combined with flavorings from agave nectar and ginger to elderflower, pineapple basil and rhubarb. Even strong bitters, like the Italian herbal-based digestif Fernet-Branca, are finding their way into today’s mixed drinks.

“Molecular mixologists” like West coast whiz Jamie Boudreau are adding foams, flames, gels, tinctures and other creative touches to their award-winning cocktails. Savoury mixtures like sake with pickled ginger, or Boudreau’s bacon-infused bourbon and chocolate cocktail, take drinkers into uncharted new territory.

But behind many bars, bar tenders say they are still pouring pink Cosmopolitans and other sweet, fruity cocktails. The winners of the recent Findlandia Vodka Cup regional contests in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal gave us their opinions about the hottest cocktails in their respective cities, along with their winning recipes for holiday drinks.

“Like the food at the restaurant, we focus on fresh, quality ingredients,” says Jeff Schaus, the Calgary bar tender who swept all three drink categories in a national shake-off last month and will represent Canada at the 11th annual Finlandia Vodka Cup Finals in Finland in February.

“Our top sellers are still martinis, geared toward women – like the ‘Sexy’, with coconut rum, melon liqueur, blue curacao, pineapple and white slush,” admits Schaus. “It’s sweet, but it sells.”

COCKTAILS COAST TO COAST

Brian Grant

Voya at The Loden, Vancouver

Vancouver mixologist Brian Grant, 33, says that city has long been on the cutting edge of cocktails, demanding ingredients like freshly-squeezed fruit juices, fresh herbs and purees, muddled together with eclectic spirits, from Chartreuse and sake, to locally-distilled gin and absinthe. At The Loden, the city’s newest boutique hotel, the bar has a chic retro feel, and a list of classic cocktails.

Signature Cocktail: Old Dog, New Tricks (twist on Salty Dog with vodka, champagne, pink grapefruit and black raspberry liqueur, pink sea salt)

Hot Vancouver cocktail: Sazerac

Favourite classic cocktail: The Sidecar

Favourite flavoring: Peychaud bitters

Favourite spirit: Giffard Pamplemousse Rose

New Year’s Eve cocktail: Jack Rose (calvados, lemon juice and homemade grenadine)

Jeff Schaus

Metropolitan Grill, Calgary

Jeff Schaus, 39, oversees the bars at Seven and two Metropolitan Grills in Calgary, a popular martini bar and steakhouse, attracting a young business crowd for dining and a late night club scene. Schaus says he likes to “get the kitchen involved” in his cocktail recipes, using fresh fruit purees and herbs to create refreshing drinks.

Signature Cocktail: Limestone Lemonade (see recipe)

Hot Calgary cocktail: Mohito

Favourite classic cocktail: Stinger

Favourite flavoring: rosemary

Favourite spirit: Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka

New Year’s Eve cocktail: Cosmopolitan (vodka, Cointreau and fresh lime with cranberry juice)

Adrian Stein

Mistura, Toronto

Adrian Stein, 30, the bar chef at this upscale Italian restaurant uses chef Massimo Capra as a taster for his creative takes on classic cocktails, from the Mistura Martini with Grey Goose L’Orange vodka and passion fruit, to his new savoury cucumber and radish juice cocktail with pear vodka and ginger syrup.

Signature Cocktail: Purple Basil Grapefruit Mohito (see recipe)

Hot Toronto cocktail: Manhattan (with high end bourbon or rye)

Favourite classic cocktail: Negroni

Favourite flavoring: vegetable juices

Favourite spirit: infused vodkas

New Year’s Eve cocktail: Proscecco with Alize (passion fruit liqueur) and pomegranate seeds

Jason Brus

Radio Lounge, Montreal

Jason Brus, 30, slings drinks at one of Montreal’s hot dance clubs and says it’s all about pushing out basic rum and cokes or vodka oranges – “I’m the fast food bar tender.” In clubs like this, where 1,000 young customers juggle for space on the dance floor, they buy vodka by the bottle – and pay up to $700 to put a three-litre bottle of premium Belvedere  on ice at the table. The girls who come to the bar like sweet drinks, he says.

Signature Cocktail: Jason’s Sweet (1/2 apricot brandy, ½ Amaretto with orange and cranberry juices)

Hot Montreal cocktail: XO Cognac

Favourite classic cocktail: Stinger (white crème de menthe with cognac)

Favourite flavoring: fruit juices

Favourite spirit: Bombay Sapphire Gin

New Year’s Eve cocktail: Jason’s Sames Punch (see recipe)

RECIPES:

Jeff Schaus’ Limestone Lemonade

1 oz. Finlandia Lime Vodka

1 oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1 oz. simple syrup

2 oz. water

1 sprig fresh rosemary

Shake with crushed ice and strain into a tall, narrow cocktail glass. Garnish with rosemary sprig and lime wheel.

Brian Grant’s Mango “J” Collins

2 oz. Finlandia Mango Vodka

¾ oz. saffron-infused simple syrup

1 oz. lemon juice

½ oz. mango juice

3 oz. soda water

Shake all with ice (except soda) and strain into a Collins glass. Garnish with a fan of fresh mango, dusted with ground saffron.

Adrian Stein’s Grapefruit Basil Vohito

1.5 oz. Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka

½ oz. Campari

2 teaspoons white sugar

4-6 purple basil leaves

1/8 white grapefruit, skinned and diced

4 oz. tonic water

In a highball glass, muddle (mash) together the vodka, campari, sugar, basil and vodka. Add ice and top up the glass with tonic, then garnish with a wedge of grapefruit.

Jason Brus’ Sames Punch

½ oz. Finlandia regular vodka

½ oz. Cointreau

¼ oz. apricot brandy

splash each: orange, cranberry and grape juice

Shake with crushed ice and strain into a martini glass, edged in green powdered sugar and garnished with exotic fruits.

(this story appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2008

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