You Need To Try This is an archive of deliciousness that stretches back a decade. The column details all the awesome drinks and dishes that we consume (and somehow find the patience deep within us to first photograph) over the course of our professional and private lives.

Ancora’s most recent cocktail menu has taken a playful approach with a few Fall and Winter-inspired cocktails. Everything on the list is a twist on a classic. From riffs on daiquiris and flips to espresso martinis, the bar team is playing with well-established and/or otherwise notorious recipes by adding their own signature twists to each. Take the Nacho Medicine, for example: the mezcal-based drink is a riff on a modern classic called Penicillin, which was created by Sam Ross (now of New York’s Attaboy) in 2005.

The original recipe calls for blended scotch, honey-ginger syrup, lemon juice and single malt scotch. Ancora’s version includes Viejo Indecente mezcal, ginger shrub, Amontillado sherry, bitters and a smoked salt rim. It’s similar enough to the Penicillin that you can easily see the origins but different enough that you can appreciate it on its own merits and from a new angle. As you can well imagine, sipping on this smoky, gently spicy cocktail ($15) while taking in the Peruvian-inspired restaurant’s waterfront views is a lovely way to close a chilly afternoon!

Ancora Waterfront Dining & Patio

Neighbourhood: Yaletown

1600 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC

604-681-1164

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