The Healthy Cocktail

Catherine Tse

No need to completely ditch your New Year’s resolution when meeting up for drinks. At least not in Vancouver, where even the cocktails are healthy.

We’re already used to elevated ingredients—antioxidant and vitamin rich cold-pressed juices and home-made bitters. But have you ever had a cocktail made with seaweed, kale or coconut water? Not just healthy for trend’s sake, these cocktails have been crafted by some of Vancouver’s most highly- respected and crazy-talented bartenders.

Here are eight impressively healthy cocktails in and around Vancouver.

Green Dream, Catherine Tse photo
Green Dream, Catherine Tse photo

Green Dream, $16
Four Seasons Whistler,
4591 Blackcomb Way, Whistler

Made with kale and garnished with kale, there’s no mistaking the healthy intentions of this cocktail. In fact, it leans more towards a smoothie given the presence of avocado and yogurt. But the addition of Żubrówka, a bison grass vodka from Poland, definitely makes this a grown-up treat. The vodka imparts an earthy grounding to this cocktail with subtle coconut and grassy notes, perfect with the kale.
It’s been a sleeper hit for the Four Seasons. Once customers overcome their initial bewilderment, they’re hooked on this healthy cocktail. It’s nearly a guilt-free indulgence, packed with kale (superfood), avocado (healthy fats), low- fat yogurt (probiotics), agave (natural sweetener) and low-fat milk (calcium).

Sour Roses, Issha Marie Photography
Sour Roses, Issha Marie Photography

Sour Roses, $15
Uva, Moda Hotel, 900 Seymour Street
Pink and pretty, bittersweet and refreshing, it’s no secret why Sour Roses is one of Uva’s best-selling cocktails. Made with Novo Fogo cachaça, Campari, Lillet, lime juice and sour rose petal jam, this unique cocktail offers a lot more than easy sipping.

Rose petal jam is renowned in South Asian cultures as a cure-all for the body— it aids digestion, eases ulcers and cramps, is a strong anti-inflammatory, detoxifies the blood, decreases stress levels and even perks up your energy level.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a single-note, candy-rose cocktail. The rose note hits at mid-palate and ends with a clean, citrusy finish. This is a delightfully thoughtful, well-balanced cocktail.

The Lantern, $12.50
Vij’s, 3106 Cambie Street
A beloved Vancouver institution; when Vij’s moved locations recently, head bartender Jay Jones created a new signature cocktail to celebrate the occasion.

Made with Belvedere vodka infused with ginger and turmeric, Campari, organic papaya nectar and lemon juice, Jones was channeling Vij’s essence into liquid form: community, creativity and a playful approach to Indian flavours.

Topped with a nasturtium blossom (from their rooftop garden) and served in a traditional silver-plated saag bowl, this cocktail also embodies Vij’s flair for style.

In this crisp, exotic cocktail, ginger aids digestion and helps prevent gas, while turmeric, great for the skin and an excellent anti-inflammatory, helps to detoxify.

Glacial Snout
Glacial Snout, needs photo credit

Glacial Snout, $18
YEW, Four Seasons Vancouver, 791 W. Georgia Street
A year ago, the Four Seasons Vancouver launched the Oceans Program, offering cocktails inspired by the five oceans. Lauren Mote, an award-winning rockstar in the mixology world, helmed this project and created, among 15 other new cocktails, the Glacial Snout. Adorable name aside, a glacial snout is real and in this case refers to the tip of the glacier that once covered Ireland and Scotland.

The Glacial Snout cocktail features Irish moss, a red seaweed that’s grown abundantly along the Atlantic coast of Europe. Rich in protein and minerals, the seaweed adds an herbaceous note to this cocktail, which is made with two kinds of whiskies, yellow chartreuse, lemon and bitters. This is a beautifully balanced and nuanced cocktail.

Spirulina
Coastal Gin & Tonic, needs photo credit

Coastal Gin & Tonic, $10
Catalano Restaurant and Chicchetti Bar, 619 Courtney Street Victoria
This gorgeous, emerald-green gin and tonic is made with real spirulina, a blue- green micro algae that’s considered to be one of the oldest organisms on Earth. It marries well with the classic botanicals in the gin and could be the easiest way you ever incorporate a superfood into your diet.

Considered one of the most nutrient-dense foods available, spirulina is more than 50 per cent protein and contains a laundry list of vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids and other good- for-you nutrients.

Catalano Restaurant and Chicchetti Bar, 619, Courtney Street Victoria, BC

Sur Une Plage
Sur Une Plage, Catherine Tse photo

Sur Une Plage, $12
Acorn, 3995 Main Street
We all know you need to stay hydrated when drinking, which makes Sur Une Plage the ideal cocktail. Made with coconut water, this beverage delivers a tropical treat along with electrolytes, enzymes and amino acids.

Made with local East Vancouver Odd Society vodka, chardonnay reduction syrup, vanilla, lime zest and sparkling water, this is the vacation island version of a Moscow Mule. Fresh, citrusy and exotic.

Matcha Sour
Matcha Sour, Catherine Tse photo

Matcha Sour, $12
The Urban Tea Merchant, 1070 W. Georgia Street
This charming tea retailer and salon offers TWG teas exclusively, which also feature in their tea cocktails. The Matcha Sour, so simple—bourbon, lime and matcha tea—yet so dangerously tasty. The acidity from the lime perfectly balances the earthy grassiness from the matcha, which are both rounded off with a base of oaky, smoky bourbon.

Matcha tea is famous for being a powerhouse of antioxidants and polyphenols, because you’re ingesting the whole leaf (in powder form). It also enhances calmness, improves memory, detoxifies the body and increases your immune system. It’s no wonder that sales of matcha tea at The Urban Tea Merchant spike every January.

Velveteen Rabbit
Velveteen Rabbit, Talia Kleinplat photo

The Velveteen Rabbit, $12
Mission, 2042 W. 4th Street
The Velveteen Rabbit was inspired by head bartender Justin Darnes’ childhood memories of longing for a pet bunny (and never getting one). Decades later this cocktail is a grown-up homage, complete with fresh sage leaves as garnish that look like bunny ears in miniature. This cocktail is made with local organic Sid’s Vodka infused with grilled apricots, wild cherry wood syrup, fresh sage, lemon and orange blossom soda.

It’s a whimsical cocktail and once you understand the reference, it’s as if you can taste nostalgia. The cherry wood bark in particular adds a deep richness to this drink. An innovative ingredient for a cocktail, cherry wood is best known for its incredible healing properties and is used in traditional medicine to treat everything from bronchitis to fevers to gout.

Vancouver travel writer Catherine Tse prefers her vitamins in cocktail form, especially in January.