In early June, the hotel welcomed two noteable Italian queens – one raised in Kona, Hawaii and the other raised in Santiago Chile. With morethan 60,000 subjects per queen, the honey bees are the newest members of the Waterfront’s culinary team.

Frank Palter, the Fairmont Waterfront’s head bartender, has created special honey infused cocktails which, after trying both, I have to tell you are simply amazing. They’re so fresh and you really can taste it.

The honey used in the cocktails was harvested that morning, and the herbs picked fresh moments before.

First Frank offered a Honey Basil Collins. To make:

1.5 oz Beefeater Gin
.5 oz Drambuie
Fresh lime juice
1 oz Honey syrup
1 Basil stem

Add all ingredients to shaker. Add ice and stir for 20 seconds. Top with soda and straign into a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a basil stem.

Next up, we were treated with an Ode to Joe.

1.5 oz Wisers Deluxe
.25 oz Amaretto
1 plum – preferably dark skinned with light flesh
.5 oz lemon juice
1 oz honey syrup
Half an egg white
1 dash Fee’s peach bitters

Muddle plum and amaretto together. Add all other ingredients and shake vigourously. Double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a thin slice of honey comb, which will float if the egg was shaken nicely.

The ‘Honey Bee Suites’ at the Fairmont Waterfront live adjacent to the 2,100 square foot herb garden, on the 3rd floor terrace. This initative, part of the Fairmont’s commitment to reducing their environmental footprint is shared with the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and the Fairmont Algonquin in New Brunswick.

(image source, me on Flickr)

Post from: EveryJoe

Honey-inspired cocktails

Every city across Canada that has a CFL team will host a competition which will feature cocktails made from Gibson’s Finest Canadian Whiskey and a top-secret ingredient, revealed immediately before the bartenders have to create their cocktail. The judges for the Vancouver Event were Raj Taneja from Urban Mixer, Michael Schratter from 24 Hours and Jay Durant from Global Television.

We were greeted with signature cocktails from all four bartenders.

The first round of signature drinks – the Justin, the Sophie & the Frank.

After our introductory round of drinks we were taken upstairs for a crash course in Canadian Whiskey.

There are only a few regulations in the Canadian Whiskey (aka Rye) industry. The alcohol must be a minimum of three years old before it can be bottled and sold. The rye the alcohol is made from must be grown in Canada, it must be distilled on Canadian soil and bottled in Canada. Other than that, you’re basically good to go.

Gibson’s Finest Canadian Whiskey has three ages; Sterling (on the left)  is a blend of approximately 5-8 year old Canadian Whiskeys. Sterling is an “entry level” rye and doesn’t have an age declaration on it.

The 12 year old rye  is much smoother and is a noticeable step up from the Sterling. Personally, this was my favourite.

The Rare 18 year old  smells more woody (from the casks) and nutty than the others, because it’s been aged longer in either a sherry cask, a bourbon cask or some other refill. This aging mellows out the spirit and makes it smoother across the board.

Back downstairs, and we were ready to get underway. Each bartender got their choice of the secret ingredient (the first was Ginger – fresh, candied, or ginger beer; the second was oranges, fruit, Contrineau, marmalade or juice; the third was lemon – fresh, juice, and Santa Cruz lemonade) and seven minutes to create a custom drink.

The judges kindly passed the drinks back to us so we were able to try some of them out. One of my favourites was Ryan’s, which Raj said tasted like a “Shirley Temple with a kick”.

At the end of it all, Justin from Boneta won the competition, was presented with an oversized cheque for $500, and a trip to the Grey Cup in Montreal to compete nationally.

Justin’s signature drink for the competition was one of my favourites. To make it at home:

2 oz Gibson’s Rye
1/5 oz Amaretto
1/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
2 oz apple cider infused with Orange Dulce Tea
Finely chopped Bird’s Eye Pepper

Combine in a martini shaker over ice. Garnish glass with cinnamon, paprika and sugar rim and serve.

(image source, me on Flickr)

Post from: EveryJoe

Gibson’s Finest Canadian Whiskey Iron Bar Competition