The World & The West End

Cocktail Correspondent: Weldon Gardner Hunter

Monday, May 13, 2024: World Cocktail Day: After work, a visit to Bayside Lounge (1755 Davie Street, Vancouver). Shabby but characterful. I’ve been there only one time before but I remembered the older woman drinking wine at the bar from that one visit in 2021. She has a cane & a cough. The chairs at the bar at Bayside Lounge are mismatched, some of those small, swivelling bar seats, then a dining table chair that seems to come from another place. I’ll admit to a light worry about bedbugs. A rowdy, mostly local clientele, but there must be some tourists in there.

I ordered a Bee’s Knees and it was the best one I ever had. In a classic cocktail glass, which made it look “bigger,” I guess. When I’ve had a Bee’s Knees recently at the Wolf and Hound (3617 West Broadway, Vancouver), they’ve put it in a highball glass which feels “smaller.” With the larger size, it felt like I was a long way from the end of the cocktail with every sip. Oh that honey haze in the glass. You have to drink it though, it’s not a painting. 

The Bayside is a room that has seen better days – but that’s what makes it interesting. It has a 1970s, pre-Expo décor. It’s run down. There’s a circular bar down at the West End of the room, but it’s East of Denman. The view is one of the selling features of the place, but I don’t think the view from the Bayside was at its best on this visit – the sun was bright and most tables had the shades down to protect from the glare. 

The sun was just as loud as the patrons. I decided to leave when it was revealed it was a Trivia night, so no quiet reading of Phil Rickman to be had. Down at English Bay, thousands of non-Saxon sunseekers: the beach had an even shabbier edge than the lounge. Bodybuilder Bitcoin bros, mixed-race age-gap couples, sunset Instagrammers. 

I hurried down Pacific Street and then decided to try Maxine’s (1325 Burrard Street, Vancouver). I planned to have the Cherry Gin Sour, but today the feature cocktail is a Strawberry Rhubarb Gin Sour: Beefeater gin, Giffard Rhubarb Liqueur, Campari, housemade straw/rhub syrup, lemon, egg white. A nice sweet/sour blend – tart, too. A muted red, compared to the Prohibition palette of the Bee’s Knees. 

Now I’m having a Honeybee – the cutest cocktail in Vancouver. In the glass, it looks like lemon meringue.

Jim Beam Black Bourbon, green chartreuse, lemon, honey syrup, Fee Brothers Plum Bitters, Chamomile Honey Foam, Bee Pollen. The pollen is like a beehive garnish. Those plum bitters blend so nice with the honey syrup. I feel like this would be a haiku poet’s favourite cocktail: a humble little bee in the floating world. 

A nice quiet Monday evening at Maxine’s. They always have a good playlist – I’ve heard Orange Juice before here. The atmosphere at Maxine’s is nostalgic. Suitably dark, overhead lights, a nice bar with about 20 seats. Not run down. Well kept. It has two really nice two-seaters near the bar that look out onto Burrard. If I squint just enough, I can feel like I’m in a 70s cocktail lounge, but with modern furniture. Clean and spacious, you could raise your family in the washrooms. Maxine’s is on the eastern border of the West End, so ending the night here is symmetrical. And there’s a bus stop right outside. Over the Burrard Bridge on the #2, the sky looked like a cocktail.