The Rebirth of Brown Liquor
Cocktail culture is in the midst of a revolution. No longer are sickly sweet juices and sodas an apropos agent to carry flavour to a tumbler. No longer are umbrella-laden bevvies the hit of the night. A vodka cran? Suitable for the club, perhaps, but not a night lounging bar-side with thick-framed glasses and checkered scarves. While vodkas, gins, and other transparent bringers of ill-manners will always have a soft spot for the buzz-seeking sippers, brown liquors are the new à la mode.
If you're a seasoned imbiber, you've likely tested the gamut of alcohols that bewitch the palate and equate a fantastic cocktail with the likes of divine ambrosia. And for those seeking comfort at the bottom of a barrel, look no further than the new wave of cocktail lists where brown booze intermingles and is flash-panned by aromatic bitters. (Société Perrier recently ran an excellent piece about bitters, you should check it out here.)
Toronto's bartenders are lingering towards a ye olde revival of true cocktail culture, mixing Old Fashioneds and barrel-aged Manhattans with flare and precision. As gastronomy permeates the latest crop of restaurants, so too does alcoholic dexterity imbue the resurgence of cultivated drink lists. It's due to a simple theory, really: brown liquors have more aromas and notes that take a swell cocktail to the leagues of great ones. You can accomplish so much more by fusing the flavours of brown liquors than you can with their fairer-shaded counterparts. It's mixology in its finest form.
The Black Hoof Cocktail Bar is one where vodka will never appear on the menu. The bartenders over there see brown liquors as agents for highlighting that most important of elements: flavour. Similarly, the recently opened Grand Electric has a fully stocked bourbon bar, and a collection of rye that will entice any sipologist. Acadia, The Drake Hotel, BarChef, Churchill, Bar Neon, The County General, even a couple of the O&Bs of the city – like Café Grill – are all relinquishing the popularity of clear liquor to grandstand for amber-hued booze. Don't worry though, you can still order a vodka cran if you're so inclined, but...why?
