The Hunt is on for the Best Cocktail in Town …
Ah, cocktails, the best way to toast fun in the summer sun. Or in our case here in St. John’s, the best way to drink away the void of warm weather. Besides, who needs a hot sunny morning guilting us out of a perfectly good Sunday morning hangover sleep-in?
From Friday July 31st ‘til the end of August, we need your help in hunting down the best cocktail in town.
Unlike our other restaurant challenges, this one doesn’t involve temporarily available goods. We’ve asked eight great restaurants known for their cocktails to offer up their in-house favourite or best seller. These drinks are already legendary – but which is the legend among legends?
We Need Your Help to Find It …
Our food writer Emily Deming will do the rounds, for formal written evaluations, but the people’s choice is equally important, for Emily is but one woman, and to express the variability of human taste buds, we want you to try them all and tell us your favourite at theovercast.ca/cocktail-challenge-2015.
Hashtag for the event: #OCCocktails
These Aren’t Pubs and Dance Bars Though, Maybe Book a Meal …
While a bar-hoping, pubcrawling swarm of you and your friends is one way to do this, we wouldn’t suggest doing so – these are boutique restaurants that might not be able to accommodate crowds at random.
These are restaurant bars, not pubs or dance bars, so please try and respect the limited seating around their bar, or better yet – book a meal and try these drinks with your magnificent meal. They are, after all, 8 great restaurants, and you deserve to dine out eight times this month.
It’s August after all, the end of the summer that never really started. (Note, while all these restaurants have bar seating, some – like Magnum’s, Blue, and Reluctant Chef – have various sitting areas too.)
And the Eight Great Cocktails Are …
ADELAIDE OYSTER HO- USE
The Drink: The El Camino
The Description: It’s a tequila-based cocktail with cilantro, bird’s eye chillies, and lime juice, with a chilli salt rim.
BLUE ON WATER
The Drink: Gin Punch with a Twist
The Description: This year we decided to refocus our “Summer Libations” menu from our usual yet delicious white and red sangria, to a couple variations on traditional punch recipes, in addition to a few other unique cocktails. Our submission is a Twist on a Traditional Gin Punch. It is made up of, Tanquray gin, Chambord, fresh lemon juice, house made Orgeat (a sweet syrup made up of almonds, sugar, rose and orange flower water), then topped with Spanish Cava. A super refreshing punch with a nice balance of sweet and sour, hints of almond, subtle floral notes and of course the fizz from the Cava. Oh, did I forget to mention you can get this by the glass, or in a punch bowl big enough to share. Here’s to Summer!
CHINCHED BISTRO
The Drink: Cilantro Margarita
The Description: Cilantro- and jalapeno-infused tequila, with fresh squeezed lime juice, topped with fresh cilantro.
THE CLUB
The Drink: Alcohol Slushie
The Description: Cartoon images of a puppy with a blue wool hat and sweater be damned! We’ve combined everyone’s childhood summer favorite with some flavoured spirits to create such flavours as rum and coke, watermelon vodka with fresh basil, Singapore sling, and melon-ball and fresh mint, all in a deliciously small icy pebble form, and poured into a plastic cup with a colored straw to help you cool down on the 3 or 4 days of heat we get.
MAGNUM & STEINS
The Drink: Starburst Martini
The Description: An original martini only to Mags, the Starburst Martini is a proven favourite with our customers since 2001. Raspberry vodka, a delicious banana liqueur, cranberry and pineapple juice, all shaken and then strained into a martini glass. Will make you feel tropical … even though our weather has been anything but.
MALLARD COTTAGE
The Drink: Newfie 76
The Description: It’s our take on a French 75, called the Newfie 76. Its ingredients are: limoncello, cranberry savory bitters, The Third Place tonic water (artisnal tonic water made in St. John’s), Hungaria Grand Cuvee sparkling wine.
THE MERCHANT TAVERN
The Drink: The Eastsider
The Description: Belvedere vodka, lime, cucumber, mint.
RELUCTANT CHEF
The Drink: The Tetley Tea-ni
The Description: Strong-brewed and chilled Tetley Orange Pekoe tea, 1.5 ounces of Hendricks gin, 0.5 ounces of Grand Marnier, house-made sour lemon syrup, and a dollop of Carnation milk foam.
Photo of Mallard Cottage’s Stephen Lee & Chrissy Dicks by Joel Upshall, for The Overcast
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