Major Mixology

On Sunday evening, ultra-creative pop-up bar Cocktail Art takes over CBC Studios. A unique event in support of the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, it allows Vancouverites the chance to sample ambitious creations by the some of the city’s finest mixologists.

The night is made for aesthetes. Three purveyors of local decor will contribute fantastical barscapes, including a majestic brass chandelier-topped display by The Cross Decor and Design. Expect everything from lighting to incense-spiked air to compliment the beverages.

We were bewitched by a drink (working title involves plays on the theme of "smoke on the water") served in a little dark glass bottle you’d find in a vintage apothecary. Unscrew the cap and release a tendril of smoke, a sweet campfire fragrance like the burnt-sugar richness of a blackened marshmallow’s crust. Tasting of diabolical pineapple with its sweet, fruity char, this tropical, volcanic eruption in a bottle is far from the only cool offering at Cocktail Art. Eminent local bartenders (like the Hotel Georgia’s Julia Diakow and Keefer Bar’s Gez McAlpine) mix mad-scientist delights, like a tangy Moscow Mule redux with ginger-lime snow and cocktail ice spheres that look like Saturn and crack like eggs to release single-origin Elyx vodka and white port.

It’s going to be a cocktail party with serious flair. —Adrienne Matei

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