Libations: Cheers! Fall’s here

Cheers! Fall’s here!

St. John’s bartender Danny Le shares the ethos behind his new harvest cocktails

BY DARRELL ROBERTS PHOTOS BY TOBIAS ROMANIUK

“ Chinched” is Newfoundland slang for full, and Chinched Restaurant and Deli in St. John’s earns the name. Over the past 11 years, the restaurant has become well-known for its locally sourced ingredients and nose-to-tail approach to dining.

Michelle LeBlanc and Shaun Hussey own the restaurant. It’s a prime spot in the city for high-quality charcuterie. Chinched puts the same level of care and detail into its cocktail menu, which LeBlanc says has come “leaps and bounds” since bar manager Danny Le joined the team earlier this year.

Le is a veteran St. John’s bartender with a passion for elevating the dining experience through cocktails. His approach to devising beverage recipes is rooted in bartending fundamentals.

“Just understanding those fl avours and nuances and to be able to understand the identity of the drinks is very, very important,” he says.

He used this ethos while developing a selection of fall cocktails for Chinched. There’s no pumpkin spice here – Le avoids autumn cliches while creating beverages that evoke feelings of warmth and coziness on a chilly day.

“My idea of fall was cream, spice; really homey fl avours that bring you back to the idea of fall,” he says.

Homemade mulled spice syrup and a black currant liqueur put a twist on the Bramble, while matcha spruces up a coconut daquiri. The sweet, rich fl avour of Vietnamese coffee inspires the third cocktail.

Le says he designed the aroma and visuals of the drinks to complement the fl avours and make the dining experience more exciting.

“I didn’t want to just do the baseline form,” he said. “I wanted to do something that would be fun.”

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A new twist on fall fl avours

Don’t roll up the patios or put away the deck furniture yet, there is still time to enjoy a cocktail alfresco. Just throw on a sweater and mix up one of these harvest cocktails crafted by St. John’s, N.L. mixologist Danny Le and toast the best fl avours of autumn.

Salted caramel espresso

1 oz Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum ½ oz Baileys 1 oz coffee concentrate ¼ oz home-made caramel cream syrup

Shaken with ice and fi ne strained into a coupe glass with a caramel rim and fl akes of coffee salt.

Toasted coconut daiquiri

1 ¼ oz Bacardi Superior white rum ½ oz Godiva white chocolate liqueur 1 ¼ oz matcha and coconut milk syrup ½ oz lime juice.

Garnished with half the coupe covered with toasted coconut. Finish with a fl oret.

Mulled bramble

1 ½ oz Bombay Sapphire gin 1 oz lemon juice ¾ oz mulled spice syrup

Shake ingredients with ice and pour through a Hawthorne strainer over a glass of crushed ice. Top with ½ oz crème de cassis o