photo: Mark Yammine

by Meagan Albrechtson | In a time that has seen bartenders using gastronomic techniques and obscure ingredients in drinks, Vancouver’s cocktail-savvy patrons are swapping out elaborate concoctions for straightforward classics. Whether they take us back to a nostalgic memory – that frothy first sip of a Piña Colada – or we simply appreciate a good gin martini, original cocktails have stuck around for good reason. Many Vancouver bartenders are quick to explain why simple is better, and delve deep into their own boozy memories.

“People are excited to go back to classics because now you can go to bars where they’re being made properly,” says Grant Sceney, head bartender at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. “We live in modern times. There was a lot of damage done in the ‘80s and ‘90s when everything was neon green and whatever had the most sugar was considered a good cocktail.” Advancement in the culinary realm have spurred the bar world to follow suit, he says, with bartenders progressing their skills and taking more pride in their drinks. When asked to name his throwback beverage of choice, Sceney says he will occasionally opt for a tropical vibe-inducing Caprioska, which takes him back to his first hospitality job on the Great Barrier Reef.

photo: Fairmont Pacific Rim

“People have gotten tired of 11 different ingredients in a cocktail,” says Guy Stowell, bar manager at Main Street’s Anh and Chi. “There’s a reason classics were first made. Three ingredients that just work really well together.” Stowell also thinks there’s some science behind our fond drinking memories. “The olfactory nerves in our nose take a reading of smells and send them to our brain’s limbic system, which is connected to memory. That’s why you can feel emotional about a good drink or dish.” When Stowell gets a whiff of gin, it triggers happy memories; such as the time he took swigs straight from the bottle at age 13, or ordered a Singapore Sling at a hotel bar after an all-nighter. “It just comes rushing back.”

photo: Mark Yammine

Wendy McGuinness, bar manager at Kissa Tanto, will always remember her first Clover Club, which she ordered in the place it originated: London’s famous Savoy Bar. “The bartender is wearing a white suit jacket. You’re in this nostalgic bar, the hotel itself has been around for hundreds of years.” While bartenders have been pushing classic cocktails for sometime, McGuinness thinks Vancouver is embracing them now more than ever. “People are more inclined to make a better drink at home, they care about who’s making their cocktail, what gin they’re using, what vermouth is going into it. So it’s nice to have that appreciation.”

photo: The Keefer Bar

Although The Keefer Bar’s Keenan Hood doesn’t drink many White Russians these days, it’s still one of his favourite nostalgic drinks (he refers to it as a ‘Caucasian,’ taking inspiration from cult film, The Big Lebowski). “I think people revert back to the classics because those drinks are untouchable,” he says. “They were the birth of alcoholic concocted beverages.”

So while most of us can agree that classic cocktails aren’t going anywhere – whether they should be messed with or not will always be up to the person behind the bar. “The only way the industry is ever going to grow is if people find inspiration in these classics and push them to create their own personal style,” says McGuiness. “It’s like telling a chef that a Bolognese is a Bolognese and you can never change it. That’s boring.”