LIQUOR

LIQUOR Mixing coffee and liquor is a part of pandemic life

by Mike Usinger

One of the strangest things about this most strange period in history is the way time, for many of us, is nowhere as important as it seemed a year ago.

Think about what life was like in January of 2020. Assuming you weren’t independently wealthy, chronically underemployed, or unable to get out of bed in days with “day” in them, everything was on a schedule. The alarm went off at 7 a.m., work began at 9, lunch was at noon, and quitting time was at 5. After which, in a desperate and often futile attempt to make ends meet, you toodled off to your second job, embitteredly wondering why you couldn’t have been a trust-fund kid, tech genius, or one of the Olsen twins.

Now that you’re working from home, you wake up around 10 a.m., spend 45 minutes doom-scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, and Tinder, then hop in the shower. After a 12 p.m. leisurely breakfast, it’s hard at it until lunch at 2, followed by happy hour at 3. And then, sometime around 5, it’s time to fix a double espresso spiked with Baileys and get seriously at it.

Shit still gets done, but these days it’s on your terms. And who cares if you don’t cross the finish line on a project until 1 a.m. while wearing Deadpool pyjamas, duck slippers, and a Japanese-import tuque that reads “Cold Today Isn’t It?”

And you know why shit gets done? The answer involves two crucial liquids: coffee and alcohol.

A balanced part of any pandemic breakfast includes a fresh and hot Scotch Coffee.

A prepandemic lifetime ago, those two used to mark very distinct parts of the average working day. Coffee was the bohemian breakfast that got you off and running in the morning and the soccer-mom speedball that kickstarted the afternoon. After punching out at 5, alcohol was the reward for surviving another day.

But because the world is all messed up right now, it’s no surprise that the lines between the two have become hopelessly blurred. And that’s okay, because coffee and alcohol have long had a relationship.

Conventional thinking is that the first perfect union of the two started with the creation of the Irish coffee circa 1942. Popular legend traces the cocktail back to an airport near Limerick, Ireland, where bartender Joe Sheridan decided to create something unique and warming for a group of travellers who’d had their flight delayed.

Cream, coffee, sugar, and whiskey went into the glass. When a clearly uppity American—probably a pioneering Brooklyn barista—asked, “Is this Brazilian coffee?”, Sheridan reportedly retorted, “No, that’s Irish coffee.”.

Let’s flash forward a bit. Think about how far we’ve come in a short time when it comes to both coffee and cocktails. At some point in the ’50s, convenience started to become king, which is why your grandfather considered a steaming cup of instant Sanka the greatest thing this side of a Swanson TV dinner and prerolled cigarettes. By the ’70s cocktailmaking was becoming a lost art, unless your idea of fancy was a Jack and Coke.

Then things changed, with artisanal attention to detail becoming a thing—and not just in Williamsburg.

As anyone who’s been to Revolver on Cambie, Agro Coffee Roasters on Clark, or Kafka’s on Main will happily inform you, coffee is now a full-blown experience as much as a drink. And we’re not just talking the crema on the espresso but the importance of things like acidity and flavour profiles. Yes, praising coffee for notes of “mulberry, cocoa nib, tangerine zest, thyme, and agave syrup” has become a thing. Snobbish? Fuck off—somewhere there’s a cup of Kirkland with your name on it.

The rest of us will give up our freshly roasted beans when you pry them out of our flat-white-warmed hands. Beans, we might add, that usually speak to an undying devotion and loyalty to our favourite coffee shop.

As for cocktail culture, as a dedicated liquor nerd, you know full well that we’re in a golden age that shows no sign of cresting any time soon.

And speaking of things that won’t be ending, hello COVID-19. If there’s one good thing about the mess we’re all in, it’s that nothing is stopping you from accessorizing your 1 p.m. breakfast of toast and jam and coffee with a shot of whiskey. No one’s going to judge you, especially if you’ve just scored a sweet pair of Breaking Bad pyjamas. It’s called multitasking.

Here’s a drink you can make to get your day underway.

SCOTCH COFFEE 1.5 oz Glenmorangie 10 Year Old 1/3 oz Giffard chestnut syrup 4 oz quality coffee 1 oz cream Pour whisky, syrup, and coffee into a clear mug, mix, and float cream on top. g

Odd Society’s bourbon-style whisky a winner

by Mike Usinger

Sometimes you’ve got to jump fast if you want to avoid being disappointed.

Remember that time before the COVID-19 apocalypse that you waffled on buying tickets to see Paul McCartney at BC Place only to have it sell out in 17.2 seconds? So you ended up singing “Hey Jude” outside to the Terry Fox statue instead of having the time of your fool life in Row 2, where you had tickets on hold for a 15-minute window but couldn’t pull the trigger?

The importance of being quick on the draw is particularly important if you’re a fan of Odd Society Spirits.

The East Van distillery has just taken its first kick at the whiskey style that made legends out of Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel and Johannes “Jacob” Beam.

For reasons that those who know their liquor history will get, Odd Society has dubbed its new release Powell Bourbon-Style Whisky. The reason for the word style?

That would have everything to do with the fact that if a bourbon whisky isn’t made in America, you can’t call it bourbon. (While we’re talking technicalities, not only does it have to be produced in America, it needs to be made from at least 51 percent corn and matured in charred oak.)

Powell Bourbon-Style Whisky ticks some of those boxes. The mash is 75 percent corn, 20 percent rye, and

Odd Society almost beats America at its own game with its bourbon-style whisky, which is worth getting before it’s gone. five percent malted barley.

As part of a collabo with the nearby Powell Brewery, the mash was soured overnight at the brewery, then aged for three years in virgin American white oak back at Odd Society.

And what did we end up with?

Here’s the thing—you’re not going to Kentucky, Lynchburg, or anywhere else in America anytime soon.

And that’s okay because Odd Society has, if not almost beaten America at its own game with Powell BourbonStyle Whisky, at least added something truly outstanding to the conversation.

Think burned honey and rich caramel with a gorgeously smooth espressolike finish. A whisky that gets you thinking no one’s going to judge you for having a second and maybe third splash before, during, and after dinner. Yes, it’s that outrageously good, to where you’ll start worrying about it being gone the second you pop the cork.

And why is the thought of an empty Powell BourbonStyle Whisky bottle so horrifying? Remember how we talked about the importance of acting fast?

Powell Bourbon-Style Whisky is the fourth in a series of Odd Society brewery-collaboration whiskies. The first three editions sold out almost overnight. This one has a limit of two bottles per person ($40 each, including tax) available at the distillery as of January 22. After that, you can try your luck online or at private liquor stores.

But if you choose the latter, don’t forget that time you cheaped out on Paul McCartney tickets, thinking “Oh, he’ll be back in 2020. Or 2021. And I’ll get to sing ‘Hey Jude’ then. Not to mention ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’”. g