Gastro-bartending…these aren’t your dad’s G & Ts

by Jacqueline Segal 
Have you flipped through a bar-menu lately?  The days of cosmopolitans and flavour-tinis are certainly in the past.  Food trends are all pointing towards a new generation of gastro-bartenders, away from simple mix-drinks to liquid, alcoholic, culinary masterpieces.  Cocktails are now seasonal, fusion influenced, 100 mile-organic-holistic, vegetarian and even carnivorous.  The bars in the top restaurants in Toronto, and all over the world, are featuring muddled fresh fruits, herbal fusions, holistic tea syrups, and even, in the right situations, a few drops of beef jus.   

All new trends aside, such complex cocktails aren’t always the easiest things to prep without a full, 4-star kitchen to back you up.  I’ve simplified some of Toronto’s most talked-about cocktails in to recipes you’ll be able to recreate easily at home.

• One’s Tokyo Rose is a subtle blend of tea, sake, vodka and ginger.  To create your own version, start with a jasmine or green iced-tea base by simply brewing a strong small pot of tea, and leaving it in the fridge to chill.  Then add two shots vodka or two shots sake (or a shot of both) to an ice-filled, tall glass.  Fill up halfway with ginger ale, and top the rest of your glass with chilled tea. 
  

• C5’s Champagne punch has been described as a Shirley temple, all grown up.  For your home version, I’d recommend using fresh berries – raspberries or blackberries would be best.  In a mortar and pestle, or in a bowl with a fork, mash up a handful of berries and use about a tbsp of this mash for each glass you serve.  In a cocktail shaker mix the muddled berries, a shot of either Grand Marnier or Cointreau, ice and three shots of champagne.  Strain the mixture in to a short or martini glass, and enjoy.  Grenadine?  Grenadine who?
  

• Amaya’s emergence on the Toronto scene has left spice-loving foodies salivating.  Their Kheera-Mirchi gimlet balances fiery green chili with cool cucumber.  To create a similar cocktail, infuse some gin (with techniques from a previous article) with a several slices of cucumber for a few hours, or a day or two, in advance.  To prepare the gimlet, run a sliced, hot green pepper along the inside of a martini glass.  Make sure to avoid the actual rim of the glass, as the oils from the pepper are lovely in combination with the juices in the drink, but not necessarily with your lips.  In a martini shaker, combine 2 ounces of cucumber-infused gin with 1/2 an ounce of lime juice and shake with ice.  Pour this cool combo in to the pepper flavoured glass, and voila!
  

• Lucien’s apple crisp martini invokes nostalgia, but with a kick.  This drink has more tart than tenderness, and is more refreshing than mellow.  To create you own apple concoction mix one ounce of vodka with one ounce of sour apple liqueur in a shaker.  Add a hint of amaretto liqueur, a squeeze of lime, some ice, and shake vigorously….this drink is best with a little froth.  Pour it out in to a martini glass, and consume.  Responsibly, of course.