Category Archives: Cocktails

Drink of the Week: Dan Aykroyd

Posted on February 15, 2013 | 1 comment
Dive right in to this margarita with a twist.

Dive right in to this margarita with a twist.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Aykroyd at the Oak Room bar inside the Fairmont Palliser hotel a couple of years ago when he was in town promoting Crystal Head vodka, which I wrote about in a column for the Calgary Herald. Interestingly, Aykroyd spent part of the interview telling me all about Patron tequila (which he also promotes) and his return to the made-in-Mexico spirit even though he’d sworn it off as a teenager after a wild night in Tijuana.

So I suppose it’s fitting that the Oak Room has named one of its tequila cocktails after the Canadian actor and comedian. The Dan Aykroyd is like a margarita, but with orange juice in addition to lime juice. This both sweetens the drink and softens the lime’s tartness. It’s very smooth. Add in a sugar-cinnamon rim in place of a salty one and you’ve got a very approachable cocktail. Incidentally, Aykroyd was very pleased when he learned the bar had named a drink after him.

It's like a margarita with orange juice. I like it.

It’s like a margarita with orange juice. I like it.

Dan Aykroyd

  • 1 oz Patron Silver
  • 1/2 oz Cointreau
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice
  • 1 oz fresh orange juice
  • Sugar/cinnamon mix to rim glass

Rim a martini glass with a sugar/cinnamon mixture, then fill the glass with ice. In a cocktail shaker combine the tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and orange juice and shake. Strain into the martini glass and garnish with an orange slice.

— Recipe courtesy Patrick Appave, bartender, Oak Room at the Fairmont Palliser

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Drinks of the Week: red (or bubbly) love potions

Posted on February 8, 2013 | Leave a comment
Cherry sour

The Cherry Sour from Candela Lounge is bold, slightly sweet and, most importantly for Feb. 14, red.

With Valentine’s Day taking place next week, some couples will be looking to get into the spirit with something strong and celabratory. May I recommend  painting the town red with these valentine-hued cocktails at Calgary lounges:

The Cherry Sour from Candela Lounge is so strong you’ll feel a flush of heat after the first sip. The Maker’s Mark bourbon is offset with a hint of sour morello cherries and a couple dashes of black walnut bitters. Trust me: you’ll want to take things slowly.

Bar C, the city’s latest eat- and drink-ery from Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts, has a fantastic cocktail menu that includes one of the best tequila cocktails I’ve chugged in awhile: the Cherry Blanco. Made with smoked cherry juice, two ounces of tequila and topped with Steam Whistle, this drink will quench your desire for something tall and strong.

Much like a nervous date, here is a drink that will turn you off at first but then grow on you as the evening progresses and the booze enters your bloodstream. A Negroni (equal parts Campari, gin and sweet vermouth) is bitter from the Campari, an Italian liqueur, but as the ice melts and mellows it you’ll be screaming for a-more (sorry). Try one at Teatro.

Couples looking for something bubbly should head to the Raw Bar at Hotel Arts and order a Courtly Love. This featured Feb. 14 cocktail combines champagne with gin and is topped with lemon-raspberry foam.

If you’d rather DIY your drinks on heart day, check out my Spirited Calgary cocktail column in the Calgary Herald on Feb. 9. Happy cupid cocktailing!

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Drink of the Week: French Gimlet

Posted on February 1, 2013 | 1 comment

I have been searching for St-Germain for several months. This trendy French liqueur is made from the blossoms of elderflowers and has become an “it” mixer to add to drinks such as gin and tonics or champagne cocktails. Sadly, liquor stores in Calgary either do not carry it or are sold out of it. So when my husband came across a large bottle at a liquor warehouse in Scottsdale, Ariz. (not unlike Costco, only stocked with booze — the warehouse, not the city) he snapped it up.

Even the bottle looks French. Tres chic!

Even the bottle looks French. Tres chic!

I went online to search for St-Germain cocktail recipes and came across the French Gimlet. A traditional gimlet, if you’ll recall from the 70s, called for either vodka or gin plus Rose’s lime, a cordial that is super-sweet and also a frightening green hue from the Blue 1, a food colorant. I am happy to report the French Gimlet calls for fresh squeezed lime juice and relies on the St-Germain as the sweetening agent.

On its own St-Germain tastes rather like Lillet, but with both fruit and floral notes and, to summon my inner French mademoiselle, a “je ne sais quoi” that’s almost honey-like. Curiously, when shaken with vodka and lime juice the end result is not unlike a Dawa cocktail. I liked it, but mostly I am just excited to add a bottle of St-Germain to the liquor cabinet!

Vodka meets lime and St-Germain.

Vodka meets lime and St-Germain.

French Gimlet

  • 2 parts vodka or gin (I opted for vodka only because we are out of gin — quelle dommage!)
  • 1 part St-Germain
  • 1/2 part freshly squeezed lime juice

Pour all ingredients into an ice-filled shaker and shake well. Strain into a coup or martini glass. Garnish with a lime twist.

–Recipe courtesy St-Germain

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