Flair, Fizzes and Fernet: All Things Shaken and Stirred Take Centre Stage at Invasion Cocktail in Montreal, May 5-11, 2015 (Bonus: Cheap Drinks)

We’ve had poutine week. We’ve had restaurant week. And we’ve had burger week. Now it’s time for booze week.

HOW IT WORKS

At the upcoming Cocktail Invasion week from May 5-11, you buy a Passport and then get $5 cocktails at more than 20 participating bars. There are also special events including a night of all-Champagne cocktails at La Champagnerie, a cocktail-making competition at Rosewood and liquid brunch at Le Richmond. Entry to everything except the opening party on Tuesday is free (which costs $60 and includes hors d’oeuvres and samples of that week’s cocktails), but you pay for food and drink.

The festival, however, is about more than cheap drinks. From cosmos to classics, Montreal’s cocktail scene has come a long way, and it’s only picking up. A series of industry workshops will cover everything from artisanal vermouths to the history of the sugar cane-based spirit, cachaça, to the future of cocktails in this city.

The workshops aren’t the main draw of the week—it’s clearly about the (mostly responsible) drinking—but they will attract a growing number of bartenders interested in being part of and expanding the Montreal scene. And if there’s space left over and you’ve emailed to put yourself on the waiting list, you could get in too, even if you’re not an industry pro.

The parties, theme nights and all bars are open to the public (18+ of course).

WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT COCKTAILS IN MONTREAL:

1. Jack Astor’s used to be the cocktail place to be. So says JS Mercier, its former general manager, in a bro-style love letter to his good friend and industry veteran Sam Dalcourt.
2. The scene was a baby in the early 2000s. But today, one of Montreal’s pre-eminent cocktail bars, La Distillerie, is celebrating its tenth anniversary.
3. Le Lab was the first home of flair bartending in Montreal. Even now, if you want to see a bottle thrown, flipped and caught, this is where you come. You also come for $15 cocktails that come with smoke, fire and other magic tricks.
4. Some say Flair cocktails aren’t dead, but classic cocktails sure gave them a one-two punch in the early 2010s. Either way, you should know that Manhattans are made from whiskey, vermouth and bitters with a maraschino cherry (the bright red commercial kind is frowned upon at better and/or snootier cocktail bars).
5. Even if you’re French, a Gin Fizz has lemon juice, syrup and soda water and is cooler than a gin and tonic.
6. In a 2013 round-up of the best 5 à 7’s on Thrillest, Le Lab was voted the Best Place to Impress Your OkCupid date. (Tinder didn’t exist back then.)
7. Now cocktail bars are popping up like corn, where drinks are found in dark, basement speakeasies, are served in pineapples and punch bowls and come savoury or sweet, long or short.
8. These places have little to do sex on the beach (the cocktail) or Long Island Iced Tea. And if they do, they’re served with a ironic shrug, meant to be followed up with a long drag on a Marlboro on a summer terrasse, and an exhale of disgust for both winter and convention…
9. Ahuntsic is not too far to go for a well-made cocktail. Or jenga.
10. If you clarify orange juice in a rotary evaporator for a molecular cuisine cocktail, the evaporator will get very sticky and you’ll piss off the kitchen you borrowed it from. Good thing Brinley Leach at Le Slang on Monkland in NDG only uses centrifuges and vacuum infusers…
11. Some Montreal bartenders say the local scene is a year or so behind cocktail meccas like New York and London. Not earth-shattering? Why oh why is Toronto more with it than us?
12. Fortunately, Spirithouse, a Toronto cocktail house has set up shop in our city and is helping us catch up. Other newish cocktail creators include Mme Lee, Luwan (not participating in Cocktail Invasion this year), Kabinet (not participating) and Le North End.
13. Some say “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” Others say, “Moderation is for nuns.” Wait, wasn’t one of those supposed to prove the opposite point? Not this week.

Cheers!

Cocktail Invasion
When: May 5-11, 2015
Where: All over
How much: $20 for a passport, then $5 per cocktail (Let me do the math for you while I’m sober. If you drink 3 cocktails this entire week, then the passport will be worth it)