Smelling this whisky instantly transported me to decorating gingerbread houses with friends over the holidays. Living away from family has led me to develop new holiday traditions with friends in winter months, while maintaining warm nostalgic memories of decorating cookies with my mom and grandma as a kid. This cocktail is reminiscent of the sweet and savory fireside flavors of baking gingerbread cookies.⁠

Odd Society Spirits is a special place and as soon as you walk into the distillery / cocktail lounge you start to understand why. They are true to their name and create all sorts of odd things. Today’s dram is no exception. This is a beautiful creation combining candy cap & porcini mushrooms into the whisky! The first few rounds they experimented with became so sweet that it was liqueur-like! Through practice, they found the balance of mushroom & whisky. To note, this is the first release in a new line from the distillery all about Community Collaborations!

Did you know Marco Polo was a 13th century traveller and merchant? During his travels he came across and wrote of tamarindi, an exotic fruit whose namesake is derived from Arabic. The earliest accounts of tamarind were recorded much before Marco Polo, but he was the first European to document it. In lieu of the seasonal spirit, I wanted to veer away from the standard spices used in Christmas cocktails. Upon my first sip of Mad Lab Single Malt the idea of a tamarind Old Fashioned was born. The cardamom and ginger notes of the whiskey are elevated with the bitters, and the syrup gives it the tartness that the orange zest usually provides. Garnished with fresh rosemary for the nose and candied ginger for extra added sweetness, Marco's North Polo is a perfect Christmas dinner drink.⁠

Mad Lab Distillery has the coolest set up & epic line up! We will discuss their whisky today, but do yourself a favour and get to know this place, they are so creative & have such fun. PSA for my bitters fans, get yourself some of theirs! They have SO many different options & often use them as an experiment before producing in spirit form! Ok back to the whisky now, but their whole line up is fire. ⁠

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Bourbon, the nectar of the gods, says me! ⁠

This drink pays homage to the many old fashioned styled drinks I have consumed since Bourbon was allowed to grace my lips. This time of year I aim to bring forward all of the fall flavors that I hold close to my heart.⁠

Honey and Bourbon have a seamless marriage that just compliments each other. Mix that with a bit of baking spice and unctuous from the artemesia and you have grandma's baked goods in your cup that warms you all the way through.⁠

So grab a glass and throw a blanket down by the fire and let this winter remedy soak into your soul.⁠

Known as part of the Modern bourbon movement happening, this Kentucky gem has a unique mash bill blending together corn, malted wheat, honey malted wheat, and malted barley in very small batches of no more than 15 barrels at a time. The name Rabbit Hole makes more sense when we learn that the founder was a career psychologist before meeting his wife who is from Louisville. He then decided to start a spirits company, down the Rabbit Hole indeed! The brand focuses on creativity and leans into finding our true purpose in life in the form of what we love and jumping in. Having created his own mash bill and a unique bourbon, it would seem there’s a solid dose of found purpose with this company. ⁠

This cocktail was inspired by Christmas at my Grandma's place. She LOVED rhubarb, I have fond memories of sitting on a picnic table with my siblings, eating rhubarb from my grandma's garden dipped in brown sugar. But in fall when the crops were reaching the end of harvest, she would freeze the rest of her rhubarb and make preserves, jam, and pie. She also always had a bowl of stale chocolate and black licorice on her living room coffee table. This recipe is inspired by that combination of secondhand cigarettes, chocolate, and licorice. It is best enjoyed while your family argues over cards, although I imagine it tastes alright with a little peace and quiet. ⁠

I’m sure that when we think of India, whisky production is not the first thing that comes to mind, however today’s dram may change that for you! Paul John himself started under his own name in 1996 with the mission to create the Great Indian Single Malt for the world to enjoy. ⁠

For my Two Brewers cocktail I was lucky enough to get my hands on some maple syrup that was aged in the same barrels that the whisky was aged in. I knew that was going to be an important ingredient for my cocktail. I wanted this cocktail to be spirit forward while also having some winter tasting notes. I felt that the cinnamon and caramel notes from the Amaro blend mixed really well with the whisky and maple syrup but it was a bit too sweet. That sweetness made it necessary to add some kind of bitter to even it out. I went with root beer bitters because it played really nicely with the rest of the ingredients while bringing down the sweetness down for a refreshing Winter spirit forward cocktail. ⁠

This dram is extra special because it has been finished in maple syrup barrels from a Whitehorse company called Maple Rush Yukon. In return, after the whisky has been removed from their barrel, they refill it with maple syrup, age it for 6 months, then sell the barrel aged syrup. Don’t miss the cocktail today at 4… Hint, hint…

With the Hinch whiskey I got a lot of forestry tasting notes that made me really want to express the uniqueness of the whiskey. To pair with the forest tasting notes I added in my personal favourite herbaceous liqueur, yellow chartreuse. The 2 ingredients mix together create a flavour profile that teleports you right in the middle of a forest after a good rain storm. Then I added in quadruple sec from sons of Vancouver and lemon juice to brighten the cocktail. To really bring this drink together it needed a touch of something sweet, honey allows this drink to maintain its forestry and herbaceous tasting notes without compromising the balance of the cocktail. When all added in that visual representation improves, I picture myself in that forest after a solid rain but the sun is starting to shine through the trees raising a mist all around you. To me that’s what this drink reminds me of. ⁠

In the timeline of whisky, Hinch Distillery, located in Northern Ireland about 20 km South of Belfast, has been around for less than a blink of an eye. But they have firmly planted themselves as part of the picture in the new generation of Irish whiskey that is currently exploding. In fact it is the fastest growing spirits category in the world, and is even forecast to take over Scotch sales in the US within a decade! The way Hinch set themselves up from the start by purchasing $5m worth of whisky across Ireland to finish & release before their own spirit was ready created a delicious way for us to get to know what Hinch is about and what to expect in the future. ⁠

When tasting this exquisite expression of Japanese artistry, there were some surprising and exciting notes that captured my attention and enlivened my imagination! With hints of wild grass and fragrant rice on the nose there were also tastes of salty sea air, marzipan, yuzu and grapefruit peels. I chose to highlight the whisky with an Old Fashioned cocktail with a few accentuations to highlight the flavours deep within the Kujira 5yo. ⁠

Our dram today was distilled by Masahiro Shuzo, one of the oldest & largest distilleries in Okinawa, Japan having opened in 1883. The Kujira whiskies are saccharified, fermented, and distilled with 100% Indica rice and black Koji unique to the area and then aged in oak casks. The Ryukyu Islands are a subtropical archipelago at the southernmost tip of Japan. Its year round hot and humid climate accelerates the maturation several times faster than in a temperate climate, thus producing a fuller and rounder body that accentuates the unique aroma of the Indica rice. Kujira means “whale” in Japanese and is a symbol of generosity and peace. The Ryukyu Islanders consider it their guardian. ⁠

Last Christmas I was gifted “The art of the Japanese cocktail - by Masahiro Urushiro”. inside this wonderful book were all his creations and more from Katana Kitten in NYC.
One of the sections focused on boiler-makers, (a beer and a shot). The attention to detail on this simple but beautiful concept inspired me to make the Burner Builder cocktail.
Combining the Scotch and beer together in a highball, I looked to the funky notes of a local saison to pair with the cotton Candy notes of the Glenfiddich XX. Topped with Dry vanilla soda this drink has the versatility and poise to please to all palates.

Glenfiddich is a fascinating distillery and has a great back story. Truly one of the original’s in the Scotch world, continuing to grow in both size and admirers. Their very first drop off the stills happened on Christmas Day in 1887. Founder William Grant had a passion for whisky and seven sons to help build an empire. In 1963, one of his great grandsons started to promote the brand outside of Scotland, breaking new ground as no one had done this before! This helped establish single malts on the International scene. The brand is owned by William Grant & Sons, which is the 5th generation of the founder himself, with his great-great grandson as the Chairman. ⁠

Banshees are female spirits in Irish folklore that herald the death of family members. Bart’s has been around since the 1970’s and has many fairy tales of its own. With the Banshees of Bart’s Pub I wanted to make a cocktail that screams every tasting note found in Redbreast 12. Stone fruit, lime, oak, and nutty sherry.⁠

Though the Midleton distillery, where this whiskey was distilled, is the most known for producing single pot still whiskey and was the originating distillery for this term, there are now a number of others in Ireland practicing the same method. The key elements are the mix of malted & unmalted barley, originally as a tax break, and the triple distillation in copper pot stills at one distillery.

Ap-peach-iate BC" is the meaning and celebration of the BC craft beverage industry. I foster Stillhead's distilling creativity. They love good spirits, good company and "good puns." With 'Ap-peach-iate BC,' I used ingredients that paired very well with Stillhead's Madeira Cask. I suggest eating the Fuzzy peaches before sipping your cocktail.⁠

We are back to Vancouver Island for today’s dram! Stillhead is a family owned & run distillery in Duncan. Brennan Colebank, the owner & distiller, is fiercely passionate about whisky, grains, and the future of BC’s craft industry. Known for working with local farmers to have exactly what he wants to distil planted in the fields, this distiller is going places. He’s even partnered with a few Victoria bars to create custom blends for them to use in-house. Some of which haven’t even been released yet, so stay tuned!