Great Northern Cocktails with Shawn Soole

• How Shawn made his way to Victoria, British Columbia by way of Australia, and how he explains his city’s disproportionate influence on the cocktail world, relative to its size.

• Why he and his team at Clive’s Classic Lounge in Victoria decided to embark on the ambitious project (called Homage Cocktail Fridays) of re-creating almost 100 famous cocktail menus from cocktail bars around the world.

  The way Shawn was able to hustle – literally hustle – for the opportunity to work with some of the world’s most influential cocktail ambassadors, like Jeffrey Morganthaler and Philip Duff.

• What Canada has to offer on the cocktail front – highlighting some of the people, places, and flavors featured in Great Northern Cocktails to show all of us quarantined Americans what we’re missing out on north of the border.

• How to plan your next vacation to the great white north so that you’re certain to strategically hit the best food and drink venues that each city has to offer.

• What Shawn talks about on his own awesome podcast, the Post Shift Podcast.

• And much, much more.

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir for about 20 seconds until everything is well chilled and diluted, strain into a stemmed cocktail glass, and garnish with an expressed orange twist.

As you can see, the Toronto Cocktail sort of wedges itself in between an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan. The Fernet could be seen as either a very bitter, lightly sweet vermouth (this would be the Manhattan interpretation), or as an additional bitter with enough sugar to warrant cutting your simple syrup (this would be the Old Fashioned riff).

Shawn had a hand in bringing this drink to the forefront as a result of his thorough historical research, so we’ll dig into it in greater depth during this interview.

Show Notes

During this conversation, we go wide and deep, covering everything from foraged cocktail ingredients to Philip Duff’s affection for the proud nation of Canada. Here are some links to some of the times we cover.

• Shawn’s podcast is called the Post Shift Podcast – be sure to download and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

• A couple of Shawn’s favorite episodes are: “5 Things Every Operator Should be Doing” and “Stop Using ‘Busy’ As an Excuse for Disorganization”

• Forewards to Shawn’s book were penned by Philip Duff & Jeffrey Morgenthaler

• Lance Staples – the forager for the bars in Victoria, BC. His Instagram is everything I hoped it would be.

• David Embury – author of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks

• Robert Vermeire – author of Cocktails: How to Mix Them

Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail

It’s a tossup between a Negroni and a Gimlet because when I’m at home, I’m a lazy bartender. Throw the ingredients in a pint glass, stir em with a finger, then sit on the couch.

If You Were a Cocktail Ingredient, What Would You Be?

Amaro, without a doubt. I’ve always been a massive fan of Fernet Branca and Amer Picon.

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

Taking my wife to the Savoy in London for the first time and having a Martini by the guys there would be my ultimate date.

Traditional Cocktail Ingredient You’ve Never Tasted

I haven’t tasted any solid Batavia Ararcks.