Sketch the history of Hogtown drinking on a cocktail napkin and you end up with something that looks like Libeskind’s ROM, a series of jagged fits and starts. The city’s mid-19th-century smart set wasn’t immune to the American fascination with mixology (the word dates from around 1865), but most knowledge was lost during Ontario’s long Prohibition. Amazingly, hotels were forbidden to serve hard liquor until 1947. A few great bars soon emerged—the Roof Lounge is still with us—and I’ve heard stories of Mad Men–esque cocktail parties in the ’60s (my father-in-law was renowned for mixing batches of dry martinis in the washing machine), but by and large Toronto remained a rye-and-ginger town well into the 1980s.
The ’90s were blighted by sickly custards like the mudslide and by the cosmopolitan and its infantile offspring, sweet drinks whose only purpose was to hide the presence of spirits. Entrepreneurs like Michelle Hunt and Laura Panter of the Martini Club, Brock Shepherd at Azul, and Dave Mitton, now at the Harbord Room, fought back with their own concoctions, but progress was slow. “As recently as two years ago,” recalls Bill Sweete, “when I was planning on opening Sidecar and checking out the competition along College, one bartender told me that he considered himself a traditionalist because he mixed his own lemon-lime for margaritas from powder instead of getting it from the gun.”
A few years ago, bartenders who squeezed their own fruit juices were seen as radicals. Now, that’s standard practice
Sweete, Christine Sismondo and I are sitting around a back table at Negroni, Sweete’s other restaurant on College, nibbling panini and dissecting the scene. A savvy businessman as well as a talented bartender, he was in at the start of Toronto’s bibulous evolution. In 2004, when he put together the cocktail program at Bymark, he was seen as radical for squeezing fresh juices and properly muddling a mojito. At Sidecar, he challenged the Sex and the City brigade head-on. “I tried to wean people off cosmopolitans by doing my own version using cranberry-infused vodka instead of juice. We called it a Little Tart. That was my joke on anyone who would actually order a cosmo. People loved it.”
“Except the people who thought it was just stuck-up,” adds Sismondo. “They didn’t like finding out their beloved cosmo is no longer cool.”
Sweete is a business partner in the Toronto Temperance Society, but it’s Sismondo’s baby. She plans to make the space above Sidecar a private club with a $285 annual membership (a way of ensuring customers can enjoy their drinks in peace on nights when College Street is choked with drunken clubbers), and the cocktail list reflects her preferences. A keen historian of mixology, she intends to revive pre-Prohibition cocktails at TTS, along with some of the more serious tiki drinks from the ’50s, plus a line of “market-fresh” cocktails. The club will feature house-made infusions and her own tonic water, made with cinchona bark, allspice and citrus. She has brought some for me to try, and it’s incredibly quenching: tangy, edgy and not nearly as sweet as the commercial stuff.
But, unlike many of their peers, she and Sweete draw the line at bitters (“the bitters you buy are better than what we could make”), and she won’t be using any of the molecular techniques that Frankie Solarik uses at Barchef. “I think it’s mostly just smoke and mirrors,” she explains. “I don’t want an olive that explodes in my mouth and has something that tastes like a mojito inside it; I want an actual mojito. Not that I’m criticizing Frankie,” she adds quickly. “It’s great someone’s doing it. But if Frankie is the haute couture of the bar scene, we’ll have more of a ready-to-wear collection.”
Hmmm…Bar-chefs? What’s next, Food-tenders? I’m sure the $45 beverage is very good, but can people please stop abusing the terms “Manhattan” and “Martini”? Last time I checked there was no vanilla cognac in a Manhattan. If you’re so creative think up your own names for these cocktails.
May 3, 2010 at 3:21 pm | by MattagascarMattagascar, jealousy is a useless emotion. They are not abusing the terms Martini and Manhattan, in fact I have met a few of the people mentioned in this article and they have the utmost respect for the cocktail.
May 3, 2010 at 4:05 pm | by TikiAs for the term bar-chef, its been around for awhile now so get used to it because you will probably see it again.
I’m not jealous, and yes “Tiki” some are abusing the terms. When I go into a bar and order a Manhattan I want rye, sweet vermouth, and a dash of bitters shaken with ice and a cute little cherry sunk in the glass. I don’t want to have to explain that to the “bar-chef” either. Is that too much to ask? Is it old fashioned? Yes. Delicious? Damn right. If you want a campfire with it why not call it a “kumbaya” cocktail or something. If you respect something you leave it alone and pay homage to it. I’m sure all these people are talented and their drinks are great but leave the classics alone.
May 3, 2010 at 7:16 pm | by MattagascarWhat about all of the bars that don’t stock bitters because they don’t think it’s necessary in a Manhattan?
Last time I checked, Frankie had called his drink the “Vanilla Hickory Smoked Manhattan” and the only Martini on the menu was his take on it.
No one in this article is taking classic cocktails and passing off their versions as definitive. You can go to any of these bars and either get something off of the drink menu or not. If you have a request, you may or may not have to explain it, just like at any restaurant.
May 4, 2010 at 5:24 am | by JaphetBar-chefs, $45 drinks, creative manhattans, liquid nitrogen – Why does it have to make sense? I love it all!!
May 6, 2010 at 4:53 pm | by CarsonDoes it really matter what title people are giving themselves? Does a mixologist make a better drink than a great bartender? Is is a crime to be creative with the classics?
Lets just be thankful that the passion and creative aspect is there! The opportunity for us to all find that which we appreciate and enjoy is broadened with all the diversity!
Food and drink is such an amazing aspect of our lives, especially when shared with others and allowed to be more than just a meal and beverage.
My best wishes to everyone mentioned and I encourage you to continue in your pursuits.
Great article – thank you!
Hi Frankie, missed to wisit you on the trip West to East.Planning to do that again in June.This time we will try some of the drinks you made so popular.
May 13, 2010 at 3:43 am | by Babi DedaOur best wishes to you..and the boy….I am so proud of you.
How obout to make (create) drink in the name ..memory of your Mom” Nasha Pink Dasa”…Nasha-Bohem-Dasha…
With Love from Okanagan…L I D A …
PS If we all think like Mattagaskar, the light- bulb would not be invented
That’s Mattagascar…with a “c” you idiot. I hope you had a nice “wisit” to Toronto.
May 14, 2010 at 10:48 am | by MattagascarI’m going to try to swing by this place tonight. I applaud anyone that’s trying to raise the bar in this city.
May 15, 2010 at 6:37 pm | by El Mero ChingonMattagascar, chill the f out. you certainly use the words, “respect for the classics” lightly, when you speak of a shaken Manhattan. I’m sure all the bartenders above, along with making fine twists to old classics, can also make you a delicious classic Manhattan…and it most certainly will not be shaken. Because I’m sure they, unlike yourself, actually do hold a Manhattan in high regard. As do I. Cheers to every new cocktail bar in Toronto. We need you desperately.
May 17, 2010 at 3:57 pm | by SandyWhat is the matter with this fool “Mattagascar” people you can do a search on this name and you will see This imbecile is full of negativity and vile. Mattagascar I think you should be ban from this site. You obviously have nothing positive to add to any dicussion. From where I stand you sound Angry, Ignorant and Unemployed. Never a good combination Mattagascar.
May 20, 2010 at 4:42 pm | by Hunter