The Cascadian Smash Cocktail

It didn’t take long for summer to pack it up. It went from T-Shirts to raincoats practically overnight, the temperature dipped into the long pants zone and no-one is still wearing flip flops in all this muck. *sigh*It’s time for me to stay inside and organize all the late summer fruit ‘n veg harvested from our garden and out in the wild.

The latest bit of foraging I did yielded three large mason jars full of Oregon Grape Syrup, which retains much of the wild berry’s natural sourness tempered with just a hint of cane sugar. It’s very similar in taste to a Blackberry-Balsamic Shrub which is a type of fruit and vinegar syrup or cordial used to give cocktails a sexy sweet ‘n sour kick. Read More

Shelter Point Distillery (Campbell River, BC)

Every time my wife and I drive to Courtenay – Which is pretty frequently ‘cause it’s only thirty minutes away in good weather and full of great places to eat – We drive past the sandwich board for Shelter Point Distillery, and I feel shame. It’s an award winning whisky and vodka distillery and I’m a hack food writer and we are so close, so damn close… Yet in all the years I’ve spent here in Willow Point I’ve never hiked down the road to visit this illustrious institution. Read More

Watermelon Mint Refresher

Watermelon Mint RefresherWatermelon, Lemon and mint are a classic combination of summer flavours. They kick it in salads, smoothies, sorbets, a legion of various desserts and cocktails… So many cocktails.

This is one such cocktail! Elevated miles above the obsessively photographed, overly-sticky mass of vodka/watermelon rabble out there on the interwebs thanks to its high quality ingredients and the careful blending (yeah it’s one of those, dust off ye olde margarita-o-matic) of flavours by my talented mixologist wife. Read More