Ammar Karam
First it was craft beer, but now it’s craft cocktails. This is one of the new trends exploding in
the Toronto bar scene right now.
What is a craft cocktail? According to Barman’s Journal, “craft cocktails are where every
element is handmade or tailored specifically for the drink.” Cocktailing has been around since
the early 1900’s where it was first defined by The Balance and Columbian Repository as a
“bittered sling” which consisted of “spirits, water, sugar and bitters” way back in 1806. Now
cocktails are a little bit more complicated than that. The Toronto restaurant industry is
booming and accompanying it is the bar scene that is expanding to match.
“Toronto’s bar scene has definitely come a long way. Definitely still has room to grow. With
cocktail programs like World Class and Bacardi’s Legacy program, Toronto, and by
extension Canada is now on a global scale.” said Dante Concepcion, partner and director of
operations for Dash 1, a beverage consulting group. For context, the winner of the World
Class cocktail competition (a prestigious competition held by Diageo), was Canadian Kaitlyn
Stewart. “We’re starting to see craft cocktails trickling down into the suburbs and into chain
restaurants. Lots of chains are putting more effort into their cocktail lists which is reflecting a
higher demand from the people…People are more willing now to spend $15 on another
cocktail instead of another appetiser.”
When the Drake Hotel re-opened in 2004, it was one of the first bars to start really putting
forward a cocktail menu and other bars slowly started following suit. Other prominent bars
such as Bar Raval and Civil Liberties quickly emerged as forerunners of Toronto’s new craft
cocktail culture. Civil Liberties doesn’t have a menu and instead states “Trust the bartender.”
where you would specify what you would like to drink and they make something for you.
“I think it’s constantly getting better. It’s less rarified than it was a few years ago, but still
hasn’t trickled down [yet].” said Brendan Davenport, a former bartender at Bar Hop.
However when compared to Melbourne in Australia, Davenport was quick to mention that
it’s a completely different beast. “The gin (and liquor in general) scene far, far surpasses
anywhere in Canada. Multiple distillers, incredible quality, and still a lot of growth. Canadian
taxes hamper our ability to grow. BC is doing it right. Big guys and little guys get taxed the
same in production. It’s terrible.”
Simon Ho, from Spirit of York and previously from The Drake Hotel, said, “Fifteen years
ago there was no scene, you sent people to cocktail bartenders not cocktail bars…even in
Canada I looked at Vancouver seven eight years ago it was miles ahead of where we are. I
don’t want to say we’ve surpassed but we’re definitely doing some very cool stuff now.”
Sustainability is also a key word being used in the cocktail sphere nowadays especially after
the viral campaign to ditch straws and many bars not putting straws in their drinks or offering
paper or reusable straws. Trash Tiki, a roaming bar pop up presented by Iain Griffiths and
Kelsey Ramage that aims for “anti-waste drinks that taste okay and don’t fuck the planet”.
“At all levels, sustainability will become more important. From the elimination of straws, to
the incorporation of ‘no waste’ drinks and food.” Davenport stresses.
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