Good Drinks Come to Those Who Wait

This recipe is an investment in your future happiness (seriously, there’s a six-week aging process before you can enjoy your first taste). But like all good things—Vancouver summers included—it’s worth the wait. From the team at Suyo, which recently took home the title of Best Latin American in the 2023 Vanmag Restaurant Awards, this cocktail captures the sun-soaked Peruvian coast with every sip: it’s the summer fling you didn’t know you needed (despite the lengthy courtship).

THE SUYO CACTI

SERVES

1

30 ml Volcan Reposado

15 ml Sotol Ono

7 ml Grappa di Marolo

30 ml verjus blanc

2 dashes bay leaf tincture

10 ml chamomile-infused Strega liqueur (see recipe)

10 ml bee pollen syrup (see recipe)

50 g beeswax

Soda and grapefruit oils, to serve

1. Combine all cocktail ingredients except for the beeswax, soda and oils.

2. Gently melt beeswax in a disposable container. (It will ruin your pans so don’t use anything you’re fond of.)

3. Carefully pour the liquid wax into a clean glass bottle, and, while it’s still liquid, rotate the bottle, coating the inside with a layer of beeswax as it solidifies.

4. Allow to cool fully before filling the bottle with your batched cocktail. Age in beeswax for six weeks (at room temperature and out of direct sunlight). Be sure to date your bottle so you know when it’s ready.

5. Once six weeks have passed, pour 120 ml of the batched cocktail into a glass and add 60 ml soda. Spritz the top with grapefruit oils and enjoy.

CHAMOMILE-INFUSED STREGA

10 g chamomile flowers

750 ml Strega liqueur

METHOD

Steep chamomile flowers in Strega for 60 minutes. Fine strain, bottle and reserve in the fridge. (It can be kept indefinitely.)

BEE POLLEN SYRUP

40 g bee pollen

1 L water, boiling White sugar

METHOD

Steep bee pollen water for 20 minutes. vigorously, then strain paper coffee filter. remaining pollen add equal parts white Stir to dissolve. Once is completely dissolved, and reserve in the keep for up to two