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| - In Toronto and the GTA, the growth of cocktail bars has been a slow and steady one. the first iteration was just having businesses begin to create the basic craft cocktails, the second wave was for enough of these standard cocktail bars to pop up that your regular trendy restaurants had to incorporate craft cocktails onto their menu, and finally the wave to come after this was the rise of specialty/theme cocktail bars which take the traditional and flip them on their head.
The latest cocktail wave could be seen in the recent surge of Tiki bars in the city but it can also be seen in a spot like the Junctions newest edition Famous Last Words. On it's own it's a pretty cool name, but when you're there and see how they've totally run with this literary theme, the idea comes full circle - and it's amazing!
It's a cool intimate vibe with a lot of table space for a small-ish venue. Everywhere you look there are literary themed decor from a scrabble tiled bar, posters with entire literary works written out in full (very small of course) to an amazing floor to ceiling colour themed bookcase taking up the entire rear of the bar.
The theme extends to their menu which is broken down into a small, almost mini novel, dividing cocktails and beverage options into chapters, rather than categories. Each chapter, for example "the Classics" ties in the theme of the drink (for example: Old Fashioned, Manhattan, etc) to a creative rebrand/name for this drink, utilizing a Classic book name. There is even a alcohol section of the menu which they've dubbed "Young Adult" where the drinks give reference to books like Twilight or Harry Potter, etc
On my visit I had the opportunity to try two different drinks, The first was found in Chapter 3: Classics under Whiskey and was named Bonfire of the Vanities, which once you read their description you realize it's their take on a traditional Manhattan using Dolin Rouge Vermouth, Buffalo Trace Bourbon and both Angostura and Tobacco bitters ($13). It was super alcohol forward but I enjoyed it a lot, the earthiness of the tobacco bitters really gave the drink a mature flavour that warmed in my mouth. My second drink was a mezcal and Ardbeg 10 year old scotch whiskey mix - which for those of you who are fans of Tequilas more mature cousin and smokey scotch can imagine this drink (whose name escapes me) was like a smokey forest fire in my mouth - easily one of my favourite cocktails I've had in the city!
Special X-Factors: not only do they offer amazing cocktails but they also offer cocktail classes for those looking to learn AND special events for book lovers like reading nights where you come to the bar with your favourite book and rather than drink and socialize you drink and read (socializing I'm sure is still an option).
The visit concluded with the bill (of course) and this was something really cool, it was presented on one of those library card still sleeves that you'd remember from years ago at the library which would be affixed to the inside of the cover your the book you were borrowing from the library. Meticulous detail from beginning to end and a total commitment to their theme!
There wasn't a minute of my experience at FLW that I would change, it's definitely a venture worthy spot in the city and you'd be remiss to not pay them a visit - fair warning, arrive early as they get busy very quickly.
Eatcrest Out
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