26 MAR 2018: Wolf in the Fog, which was named Air Canada’s enRoute Best New Restaurant in Canada in 2014, is right on trend with its new programme that promotes local spirit. The Local Legends cocktail programme at this eatery in Tofino on Vancouver Island features classic cocktails made exclusively with BC booze. Cocktails are experiencing a huge renaissance and it makes sense that destinations cash in on the movement.

Locations where famous historic cocktails originated have been on the hit list of high- spirited travellers for a while. That’s not new. However the boom in newbie craft distilleries around the world has given thirsty voyageurs even more drive to drink. Ever more restaurants and bars are featuring local craft spirits that speak to a sense of place. Often the only way to sample these boutique producers’ wares is to go to the source.

At Wolf in the Fog, Bar Manager Hailey Pasemko says, “Each of these BC spirits is a local legend in its own right and we are honoured to use them to curate a fresh and proudly Canadian take on some of the world’s most popular cocktails.” For example, ‘Lynn Road Lemonade’, inspired by the Lynchburg Lemonade, blends Okanagan Spirits BRBN (100% BC Bourbon-style corn whisky) with Naramata-based Legend Distillery’s Manitou orange liqueur, lemon and soda. www.wolfinthefog.com

The growing breadth and depth of the BC distilling industry has allowed BC Distilled, Canada’s premier artisan and micro-distillery event to feature 34 distilleries, all from BC, and add to the events it offers every year. (In the past few years the number of BC distilleries has doubled.)

Hotels of course are getting in on the action. For example, in Panama, The Buenaventura Golf & Beach Resort has recently added mixology classes led by its Master Mixologist, Miguel Diaz, to its group experiences at the resort. Panamanian traditions are woven throughout the class with ingredients such as Seco Herrerano (local vodka), Ron Abuelo (local rum), tropical fruits (passion fruit, naranjilla, tamarind) and locally grown basil, thyme, cinnamon and ginger.

The magnitude of this trend can’t be underestimated. Take gin for example. The UK now produces more than 500 domestic gins, with around 6,000 being produced worldwide. The number of distilleries in the UK alone has risen from 128 in 2012 to 273 in 2017. All of this is driven by the demand for something artisan, something different and a desire for new flavours.

So welcome to the new world of distillery trails, distillery tours and fancy locavore cocktails.

As for old favourites? When jaunting about the world, it pays to know your cocktails and their countries. In some hot spots specific recipes have been declared official national drinks defended and promoted by their nations.

In 2015, Raffles Singapore celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Singapore Sling. Invented by Raffles Hotel bar captain Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915 while working at the hotel’s Long Bar, the gin, cherry brandy and fruit juice cocktail went on to gain worldwide fame. I have gone, along with many other tourists, to the Raffles bar just for that drink.

When in Venice, I always stop in at Harry’s Bar for its legendary Bellini, a three to one blend of white peach purée with the Italian sparkling wine Prosecco. In Bermuda I make sure to order their national drink, Dark’n Stormy; ginger beer topped with Gosling’s Black Seal rum.

The origins of Brazil’s national drink the Caipirinha – a mix of the country’s most famous spirit, cachaça, a distillate made from sugar cane, with limes and sugar – traces back to the 1800s. At the time the concoction was boiled sugar cane juice called garapa mixed with cachaça. The word Caipirinha is the diminutive version of the word caipira, which refers to a hick from the countryside – the drink thus likely got its name from the fact that it originated among the slaves or from the poor interior towns. Today it’s made by muddling limes and white sugar, then adding ice and cachaça.

In both Chile and Peru the Pisco Sour is the national drink. Pisco is basically an unaged white brandy made from certain varieties of distilled grapes. In Peru, they add egg white to the basic mix of Pisco, lime juice and sugar syrup and top that with a dash of angostura bitters; in Chile no egg white, and lemon instead of lime. What is consistent is the battle over who owns the rights to Pisco. Peru has a town of Pisco that overlooks the Pisco River at the foot of the Pisco Valley. Chile, however, produces much more of the grape liquor and also has a town named Pisco. The Peruvians say it was conceived in the 1920s at the Morris Bar near Lima’s main plaza. The Chileans say it was invented at a bar in the town of Iquique. Recently drink experts turned up a Pisco Sour type recipe in a 1903 cooking manual published in Lima, so the debate continues.

In Puerto Rico the national drink is the piña colada, that much beloved cream of coconut, pineapple and rum cocktail. It was created at Caribe Hilton Puerto Rico in 1954 by bartender Ramón “Monchito” Marrero.

Bottoms up fellow travellers.