A Salty Slug

 Cocktail Correspondent: Weldon Gardner Hunter

Wednesday, July 24: This is a dispatch from my local: Barra 41 (2407 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver). Barra 41 is two blocks from my abode. When I first moved to the area, the space used to be Art's - a down-on-its-luck greasy spoon with the most ripped vinyl booths of all time. These days, it's the separate cocktail bar connected to the beloved Greek eatery, Minerva's. 

On this evening, I stopped in to try a new cocktail: The Feta Martini. It's part of the new summer menu and I decided I needed to scoop all the other local cocktail rags out there and be the first to write about this dreaded drink:

Feta infused Gin, Brine, Fino Sherry, Black Pepper, Olive Oil

Oily, salty, spicy, savory. Think the dirtiest martini that ever was. I winced a bit with every early sip. There’s no escape from the overall bitter saltiness. About 5 sips in, I started slowly adjusting to this new Dystopian world. I was hoping Kevin Costner would pull up outside on a trimaran to save me. This cocktail is a clifi* writer's dream.

The brine in question is feta brine. I'd call this cocktail "Seawater" because the salinity is overwhelming. 

I chased each sip with a slug of water. I'd seen a slug on the Heron Trail in Pacific Spirit Park before I arrived at B41, and that could be the mascot of this drink. Like that slug, I slowly proceeded, feeling imminent danger with every slow suction forward ...

The last few sips were as tough as the first. The bartender Steph insists this is a "cute cocktail," but upon questioning, she thinks ratty terrier dogs and hairless cats are cute. And she's right. She also observes that it's like a Greek Salad in liquid form. She should be a beverage writer, too.

After that sluggish sojourn, I needed something in my wheelhouse, so I followed up with a Calliope’s Club: 

Gin, Rosemary, Raspberry, Lemon, Foam, Soda

Slightly sweet, tart, mild. Notes of sherbert. Calliope is the muse of eloquence and epic poetry, and it’s significant because I felt like I got my tongue back sipping this drink.

Steph is the author of the Siren's Song, which I have had on a previous visit:

 Lemongrass & Ginger Pisco, Melon Liqueur, Lemon, Strawberry, Foam

This is an illuminated manuscript of a drink: bright, smooth, but with fruity instead of floral margins. A rival to Mum's The Word's "Japanese Slipper," but not as glacé. 

I will probably never have the Feta Martini again, but you might try it, if you're adventurous. I feel some neighbourhood pride in the cocktail lineup they have, which includes the signature Kerrisdale cocktail, the "Purple Haze": Butterfly Pea Flower Rum, Lemon & Strawberry, as well as the new Galaktobourekos, a much sweeter Greek-themed beverage with Metaxa, spiced honey, black walnut, Frangelico, and cream. 

Emerging from Barra 41 at 10pm, I was confused by tumultous and stormy sounds in the night air, which turned out to be the Fireworks Festival. The city might have been celebrating the rare occasion I tried a non-cute cocktail. On my block, the local calico cat was wandering outside, so I got a few pets in before she decided to avoid my phone's camera and dart back inside her spacious apartment. I was too slow.

Jessica Gabriel, "Slugscan"

*Clifi: Climate fiction, or writing that imagines the future of our world impacted by rising temperatures and melting polar icecaps.