Cocktail Hour: Cocktails on the West Coast

Kelowna

I'm back from beautiful British Columbia (B.C.) and excited to share some of my most memorable cocktail experiences with you. I spent six days in Kelowna staying with some incredibly kind and generous friends - in the heart of wine country and Canada's desert. Imagine dry heat, glistening water, and majestic mountains all surrounding a beautiful, little city that boasts some very tasty food and, yes, cocktails.

The first cocktail that stood out for me was served at RauDZ Regional Table, said by many to be one of the best restaurants in Kelowna. We arrived at RaudDZ after a long day on the road, driving back from Oliver, B.C. and grabbed seats at the bar. After a day spent in the burning heat I needed refreshment and the Amante Picante was the perfect thirst quencher.

Amante Picante

Ingredients:

• El jimador reposado
• Cointreau
• Cucumber
• Cilantro (Luckily I am not one of those unfortunate souls for whom cilantro tastes like soap - love the stuff!)
• Green chili hot sauce
• Honey
• Lime (which was evenly sliced and coated in finely diced cilantro - if you don't like cilantro, this is not the cocktail for you.)

Description: It was the perfect balance of sweet, sour and fresh, and it must have been a popular choice, as several more orders came in following mine, causing the bar to run out of the key ingredient - cilantro!

On my last night in Kelowna, we went to Micro, a fun, modern cocktail bar with pretty, creative cocktails and tasty bar snacks - the duck fat popcorn is a must! I was looking so forward to this experience because I had heard about Micro from a few different sources who all assured me they served best cocktails in Kelowna. 

Mahalo Rewards:

Ingredients:

• Pisco 
• Cointreau 
• Orgeat
• Lime
• Pineapple
• Peach bitters
• Hibiscus & Angostura float

Description: This beauty was colourful, pretty, and so delicious. It was refreshing, not too sweet, a little sour. They're slinging cocktails right in this place! Definitely worth checking them out if you're in the area and feeling a bit wined out.

Vancouver

For the last few days of my trip, I flew to Vancouver to stay with yet another awesome and generous friend who loves good food and drinks as much as I do. For our more indulgent night out we planned to check out the newish cocktail bar in the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel called Botanist. This place came highly recommended by Vancouver food blogger (followmefoodie.com) and Top Chef Canada All Stars judge, Mijune Pak, so I knew it would be something special.

Firstly, the place is beautiful. Very modern and sleek and truly a sign of how hotel bars are (thankfully) evolving to be places you want to see and be seen. We sat at the bar, which I always prefer in a cocktail bar - it's where all the action is! You can see your drinks being made and learn more about the place chatting with your bartenders. 

The three cocktails offered from the cocktail lab represent Ocean (the Deep Cove), Air (the Pretty Bird), and Forest (the Candy Cap Magic). We ordered the Deep Cove and the Pretty Bird, two spectacular creations right down to the unique glassware. We even got the chance to watch our cocktail maker, Chris prepare these creations in the lab, described as "a bartender's artistic studio." It is truly something special to see a talented and passionate mixologist assemble a cocktail from the ground up. 

Over-sized tweezers, curled cucumbers and fancy glassware aside, our favourite part was actually the fact that our drinks came with a dainty pre-cocktail cocktail or amuse bouche (you heard me right) to satiate us while we waited - why don't more places do this? And they were so pretty too...

I should note that the lab creations are pricey at $28 a pop, but it really is an incredibly cool experience to watch them being made and to drink them (they were all booze - no watering down with juice here.)

Deep Cove

Ingredients (as listed on the menu):

• Island gin
• Sea buckthorn
• Blue algae (which I think is represented by the cucumber slices) 
• Drift wood (as the base for the glassware, at least I hope that was it!)

Description: Very refreshing and a delicious combination of simple flavours. Love a cocktail with lots of crushed ice and cucumber and gin are the perfect summer match-up for me. 

Pretty Bird

Ingredients:

• Gin
• Berries
• Seeds
• Bubbles
• Bird Nest (as the base for the glassware, again, I hope.) 

Description: This one was a boozier and sweeter with more concentrated flavours, yet still light and tasting of summer. Lovely.

We couldn't possibly leave just yet, so we followed those up with another round from the regular menu, the What the Flower and the Poetry in Motion.

Poetry in Motion (left)

Ingredients:

• Vodka
• Grapes
• Elderflower 
• Rhubarb
• Lemon
• Bubbles

Description: Super fruity and refreshing, and I don't know about you, but elderflower and rhubarb are two of my favourite things. Perfect for a celebratory toast!

What the Flower

Ingredients:

• Gin
• Electric daisies (more on these below)
• Cherry
• Blossom tea
• Lemon
• Ginger
• Cardamom

Description: So pretty and delicate, and a chance to try electric daisies! If you're not familiar, they're a type of plant also known as the Acmella Oleracea, thought to have originated in Brazil. Eating an electric daisy creates a tiny electric shock-like reaction in your mouth, like popping candy with a slight numbing sensation. They were traditionally used to treat toothaches and other ailments.

My mini cocktail adventure on the West Coast was lots of fun. I highly recommend exploring both Micro and Botanist if you have the chance. Stay tuned for a full post about my wining and dining adventures! 

Do you have a favourite cocktail joint in your city? I'd love to know about it and add it to my travel list! Email me at carbsandcocktailsTO@gmail.com or message me on Instagram: carbs.and.cocktails. 

I can’t mention beautiful B.C. without thinking about the wildfires that are currently raging across the Province right now. I was lucky to be visiting areas that weren’t yet affected, but am mindful that there are currently over 150 wildfires burning and approximately 44,000 British Columbians have been evacuated from their homes. I’m thankful that there are areas of the Province that remain unaffected, and hope that the fires will be contained in the near future. Click here to learn about a number of helpful ways you can contribute to relief efforts: