Wrestling The Goat

 Cocktail Correspondent: Weldon Gardner Hunter

Stambecco: it's an Italian maraschino cherry amaro named after the mountain goat (or ibex) that lives in the Alps. It's underrated and under the radar - a liqueur without a Wikipedia page. 

Because it's alpine, it's daring and après-ski. Just like me. I love a Stambecco nightcap - it's sweet, has a little bite, and a syrupy finish. But it's hard to find cocktails with the liqueur as an ingredient.

They sell Stambecco at Legacy Liquor Store in Olympic Village, which might explain why Brewhall (97 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver), just a few doors down, is the only one I know in the city that makes drinks with it.

On their cocktail menu, they have the "Smokeshow": Laphroaig 10 Whiskey, Stambecco, and Sweet Vermouth. 3 ounces of peaty power. Sip it slowly. The whiskey lairds it over the other ingredients. It doesn’t push the vermouth and Stambecco aside, but it’s name is on the lease. Astringent. After a few sips, you acclimate to the intense turfy taste and it blends, but you’re Ubering home for sure. Honestly this one is a little sexy and serious.

Smokeshow: Laphroaig 10, Stambecco, Sweet Vermouth

The fruiter flipside you can get at Brewhall is the "Tuta Red." I helped invent it. It's just a Paper Plane with Stambecco instead of Amaro Nonino. 

Tuta Red: Bulleit Bourbon, Aperol, Stambecco, Lemon Juice

Fruity, lemony, with a cherry carry-over, the Aperol adds more orangey citrusness but balances it with mild antagonism. The Bourbon looks around, slightly surprised, but happy to be invited to a party with such acerbic companions. 

"Tuta Red" is una specie di Italiano, meaning "Red Tracksuit." The Paper Plane was named after the song by MIA, so I wanted to dub the debutante drink after a current Italian pop hit. "Tuta Gold", or "Golden Tracksuit", by Mahmood,  is a #1 banger in Bel Paese this year. Since the Stambecco sorcerizes the drink into a shade of blood-orangey red, I adjusted the colour knob for the name.* 

And Brewhall is the kind of place you can sip and don sportswear: not intimate, but a good after-work stop. I’m not as fancy as you might think, and it's near the Knowledge Factory and the #84. Nothing wrong with a place selling cocktails and a chance to play Big Buck Hunter Reloaded! 

Brewhall

*After publishing this, I realized that Red Tracksuit might remind some of Ben Stiller in The Royal Tenenbaums.