The main event. An evening of cocktail sampling introducing nearly 50 different flavours from the world of elegant spirits. Along with the big players, the Tasting will also highlight artisan, small and regional distillers who will present cocktail demonstrations and samples of the most exciting and colourful cocktails from around the world. While on your cocktail journey, savour delicious complimentary appetizers from some of the most innovative chefs on the West Coast. In the spirit of other local festivals, such as the Wine or Whisky Festival, the Grand Tasting is an opportunity to explore the vast world of spirits and cocktails, learn tricks from top mixologists, and experience new flavours.
Tickets are $45 and include 5 cocktail samples. Additional cocktail samples are $1. Additional sample tickets are cash only and available onsite. Drinking and driving is not allowed and a ride home is available from Art of the Cocktail volunteers.
While sampling and mingling at the Grand Tasting, look out for these demonstrations to entertain, enlighten and extend your appreciation for the fine art of cocktails.
Demonstrations
7:15 PM • Peter Hunt the Art of Craft Distilling At a picturesque organic vineyard on Old West Saanich Road, Peter Hunt produces Victoria Gin, Oaken Gin, Left Coast Hemp Vodka and Twisted & Bitter Orange Bitters. The Gin he produces has won several international awards and has always been a favourite at tasting events across North America. In this demonstration, he’ll discuss the craft making fine spirits with a German made copper pot-still.
7:45 PM • Darcy O’Neil author of Fix the Pumps Fix the Pumps is a historical account of the golden age of soda fountains including over 450 recipes that made soda-pop America’s most popular drink. It was recently nominated for a Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award (Best New Cocktail / Bartending Book of the Year.) Read it not just for those revelatory recipes, but for its provocative take on their cultural, economic, and medical impact on generations gone by. You’ll never think of soda fountains as wholesome Happy Days nostalgia again. - Jeff “Beachbum” Berry.
8:10 PM • Ted Munat, Author of Left Coast Libations: The Art of West Coast Bartending: 100 Original Cocktails Original and innovative, the carefully tested recipes and techniques in this guide - collected from the West Coast’s most talented bartenders - are sure to delight and satisfy all cocktail fans from novice to connoisseur. Written in a style that is both playful and appreciative, the book provides invaluable information on topics such as what people ought to know about ice (and don’t) and what role egg whites can have in a drink. The mouth-watering recipes and lush photographs featured here will make readers excited to create the amazing cocktails of professional mixologists.
8:40 PM • Christine Sismondo, author of Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken & Stirred History Part travelogue, part instruction manual, part bar philosophy, part discursive history, Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History fits into a larger genre than your average bartending book. It is a whimsical examination of the drinks that have captured our imagination and have symbolically identified certain areas and people all over the world. Mondo Cocktail gives a careful anatomy of 12 classic cocktails and their origins, and teaches the reader far more than the proper method of making these concoctions.
9:00 PM • The Importance of Ice – Ryan Powell When is ice not just ice? When it affects the taste of your cocktail. Join beverage enthusiast, spirit master and educator Ryan Powell for a chat about the types of ice and when/how to use them in 3 different styles of rum cocktails.
