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| Best Canadian showing was Bar Pompette No. 7 |
Mexico City's Handshake Speakeasy took top spot in the North America 50 Best Bars this evening, and 13 other bars in the South American country did well in the rankings.
The awards, held at JW Marriott Parq Vancouver, was held for the first time in Canada, much to the excitement of the crowd.
It is the strategy of Destination Vancouver to bring events like 50 Best Bars and Michelin to the city to present it as a culinary and cocktail destination.
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| New Orleans hospitality at Jewel |
Botanist Bar at the Fairmont Pacific Rim got the highest ranking of Vancouver bars at No. 26, while
The Keefer Bar in Chinatown wasn't far behind at 28.
Bar Pompette from Toronto had the highest Canadian showing at No. 7, and Civil Liberties at No. 21, also from Hogtown.
The ballroom was packed with people, the members of the Best 50 wearing the signature red scarves. There was a lot of energy and love in the room, as the winners were called out there were lots of shouts and chanting of names.
Earlier in the day I attended the "Meet the Bartenders" event. Five bars were chosen to speak to media, bloggers, and probably judges(?) in a kind of speed-dating approach with the bar representatives spending 12 minutes at each station.
Jewel of the South from New Orleans landed No. 4 on the list this evening! Chris Hannah is the bartender and co-owner. The bar is located in an 1830s house in the French Quarter which gives it its southern charm. The concept here is to find drink recipes from the 1800s and adapt them to the modern era.
Hannah explained back then the cocktails were much smaller, and the first cocktails were actually served from punchbowls that later evolved into individual drinks.
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| Keefer Bar inspired by Chinatown |
In Vancouver's Chinatown is The Keefer Bar, which opened 15 years ago and keeps some 35 cocktails on its menu that changes every three months. They get inspiration from Chinatown and check out the herbalist stores for funky ingredients like sea dragon and cordyceps.
"We think of it as alcohol as medicine," said Amber Bruce, the beverage director at The Keefer Bar. "Elixirs made you feel better."
They have created interesting combinations like hojicha goes well with whisky and maple syrup with uji mushrooms gives it an earthy taste.
They also support other Chinatown businesses like Kam Wai Dim Sum that makes dumplings and baos for them since they started 15 years ago.
Claudia Cabrera is the co-founder of Kaito del Valle in Mexico City that was ranked No. 40 tonight. The basic concept of the bar is Japanese meets Mexico, using a lot of sake in their drinks. Kaito is also staffed by all women.
The bar is located above a Japanese restaurant, and the landlord originally asked Cabrera to open an izakaya and she was not comfortable doing that -- she just wanted to open a bar and thankfully that's what she did.
"I wanted to open a bar and take the best of Japan," Cabrera explained. "I want people to have fun, have easy to drink cocktails." Bar patrons can also eat ramen there.
Interesting ingredients they use at Kaito include wasabi syrup, sesame fat wash, sushi rice balls, soy sauce and MSG.
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| Flavours of Asia at PCH |
Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco was No. 16 on the list. Owned by Kevin Diedrich, the bar is located near Union Square and he says it's a love letter to Asia Pacific Islanders, as he himself is Filipino-American and his wife is Hawaiian-Japanese.
However, his bartending career has been in New York (including PDT), Washington DC and San Francisco, where he has made classic cocktails. But these days it's about Asian flavours like one drink called Kungfu Pandan, using rice whisky with pandan syrup, that reminds people of steamed rice with pandan.
"They say, 'This tastes like my childhood,'" he says, adding for him, hospitality is you remembering how you felt at that place, not necessarily the drink.
Diedrich says he has one patron who comes to PCH everyday -- six days a week -- and doesn't necessarily drink the same drink.
To make him feel extra special, PCH has a dedicated embossed leather coaster with his initials monogrammed on it.
The staff also keep detailed lists of regular guests and their preferences in a binder, harking back to Diedrich's days working in The Ritz-Carlton.
In the Grand Cayman, Library by the Sea was listed No. 30 on the Best 50 Bars tonight. Max Wolff, the head bartender was excited to tell us about the bar, where they take books and create drinks around them. They are also illustrated in their bar menus.
While that's creative, even more interesting is that the bar finds vintage spirits dating back decades for people to try.
Imagine drinking pre-revolutionary Bacardi rum made in 1932 while reading Ernest Hemingway's story that became the novel The Man and the Sea? And looking out into the ocean, the same view he had?
They explained this rum became so popular they finished the first bottle in six days. It also cost US$500 per bottle, but now it's no less than $2,500!
They have a person helping them source these vintage bottles, but they have also since made connections with private collectors, willing to sell their stash for a good price...
