| rev:text
| - On the hunt for cocktails we were waiting for BarChef to open and D.W had closed for the Holidays. We stumble in here and are surprised it's dead, even more surprising is how clubby it looks and to be dead was even worse. Free coat check was a nice touch, DJ up front just sort of vibing to himself and in his own trance with only 4 other people here besides us and staff. I wasn't sure if it was pin drop quiet because the DJ didn't want to drown us out (thanks for that though) or if it was simply quite for no one being there.
I didn't really notice it was a Whiskey place at first, just that I wanted a proper cocktail, tired of seeing nuclear cherries, old vermouth. I was actually in the mood for something a little outside their fortified wine selection so I adjusted for a more brown, bitter and stirred narrative. I ordered negroni while I mulled the menu over.
It has a very club/lounge feel with a 2 room split, chandelliers, but also a strange bird cage which we were invited to pose in. We also got the whiskey tunnel tour along with the noted local figures from their prohibition flattery. No real history dating back to the era, it's merely a carved space behind the bar in the back with some bars. Bathroom is right in the middle, sort of small assuming this place actually fills up.
The staff was incredible. Attentive, answered all my questions, chatted with us for a bit, but not in that sort of bottle girl "here let me pour this and help you drink it" sort of way. The bartender gave us some advice on our other cocktail travels and we bonded being cocktail nerds.
The Brussel sprouts were good, maple in Canada is common, not too rich. The proscuitto wrapped item was super duper rich, like too much to take. Nachos had great plating and was certainly not bar food, the avo crema was ok seeing as Canadians don't know what guacamole is. I prefer fresh jalapenos as pickled are too bland. The $40 10 piece chicken bucket sort of threw me off, very odd to pair, but they do a Triple pairing for whiskey, cheese and chocolate.
JP Wiser is really popular in Canada. I had my old fashioned made with no muddling, old forester. Solid, the cherry garnish is house made and not nearly as sweet as luxardo. They like mixing gin and whiskey, so the bootlegging bastard was great, so was the bimbo, but again I chose no muddling. I went Left hand instead of Boulevardier which is that negroni-esque split equal drink.
By now I was quite ready for more drinks and BarChef had opened, we bid adieu and our bill wasn't that bad considering I had 5 drinks, apps and was with 2 others. I felt like the Laga 12 was overpriced. I expected more Japanese.
I had a great time overall, but decided on 4 stars for the little things. For a place this size you should really have 100+ whiskies and be more knowledgeable about them. I was sad to see bottle prices of CR Black/Rye, Canadian Club. Like those are well drinks and who buys bottles? Too clubby. The American Whiskey selection was pretty standard. Solid Scotch selection. Kavalan Soloist Sherry was a real treat. I didn't get a chance to try the Indian whiskey's, but hear great things.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)