Smoked, Not Stirred

It’s the middle of July. Night has fallen, but the heat from the day’s hot sun still lingers. It’s late enough the bugs have retreated and you can hear the call of a loon in the distance. You’re sitting by a fire with old friends, regaling one another with tales from your past. Now take this feeling and capture it in a cocktail. It’s exactly what Matt Conway, bartender at Northern Maverick Brewing Co. envisioned when he created the Smoked Old Fashioned.

“I wanted to stay true to the original Old Fashioned while incorporating aspects of Canadian life,” he explains. “Smoking the cocktail reminds me of nights around the campfire in Muskoka.”

Conway helms the bar at the craft brewery and restaurant on Bathurst Street, which boasts an impressive eight 20-hectolitre fermenters (that’s about 32,000 pints) and a local menu, including house-made charcuterie. In addition to serving a variety of ales, stouts, lagers and sours, the bar menu features cocktails with locally sourced ingredients including Station Cold Brew Coffee Co. and Forty Creek (Cream) from Grimsby in the S’Mores White Russian and Dillon’s No. 7 Gin from Beamsville in the White Peach Negroni.

Smoke in cocktails or spirits usually describes aromas or the distillation process (think peaty Irish whiskeys), but Conway, on the other hand, applies smoke as a finisher. He forages wood in the Toronto area and as far as Muskoka. After some trial and error, the brewing company landed on cherry wood as the favourite for its slightly sweet and delicate flavour. Conway then torches the wood before placing a glass over the fire to smother the flames and capture the smoke. Bourbon, spiced maple syrup flavoured with all-spice, cinnamon and cloves and bitters are poured into the smoked glass over a rock, giving the cocktail a “sense of Canadiana” while staying true to a classic Old Fashioned. We’ll drink to that.

Northern Maverick Brewing Co.
115 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ont.
northernmaverick.ca | 416.540.4030 | @northernmaverickbrewing