LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2023

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS

Absolut Citron Vodka LCBO 257238, $32.20 There’s vodka, and then there’s Absolut Citron, the king of flavour-spiked clear spirits. Launching in 1988, with a splash and a twist, it was made then as it is now: with Swedish winter wheat and pristine deep-well water from the town of Åhus, where it’s produced. By the early 1990s, Absolut Citron was cemented as a key ingredient in the craze for Cosmopolitans, and its breth ren of flavoured vodkas helped create all manner of brightly coloured cocktails of the era.

GIN IS IN Tanqueray London Dry Gin LCBO 2691, $32.50 The venerable Martini got a boost in the mid-1990s from such pop culture–defining hits as Sex and the City and Swingers , in which depictions of smart and attractive urbanites sipping classic clear-spirit Martinis made with premium bottles proved irresistible to a thirsty public. Bartenders rediscovered vintage recipe books, mainly featuring gin cocktails. And … bam! Welcome to the cocktail and speakeasy renais sance. Sorry, Bond … we’ll take ours stirred, not shaken. CLOSE CROP BOTTLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY DARREN KEMPER SCOTCH ON THE ROCKS Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky LCBO 12385, $80.20 Scotch suffered a slump in the 1980s as vodka surged, and many Scottish distilleries were mothballed. Scot land made a major comeback in the 1990s as demand came back for single-malt and shuttered distilleries, such as Tè Bheag, got a new lease on life. Call it nostalgia or a preference for provenance, but all manner of Scotch, from single-malt to blends and cocktail-friendly bottlings, is still riding a wave of popularity. Just when you think you’ve tasted it all, new distilleries are still coming on stream.

Stars of the Bar Cabo Wabo Reposado Tequila LCBO 551416, $84.50 Crystal Head Vodka LCBO 267302, $61.95 Celebrity wine and spirits started out as vanity and novelty plays in the 1970s and ’80s, and wound up being a billion-dollar category on their own (just ask George Clooney, a founder of Casamigos, a tequila brand that sold for around that amount). Athletes (including Wayne Gretzky), actors (Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd had an early hit with Crystal Head vodka) and rockers (Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Tequila was a pioneer) all brought something to the party. More recently, ultra-premium vodka, tequila and Cognac are the spirits of choice, endorsed by rappers, ballers and models. Get a taste of VIP life and sip along.

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