Spirit Of The Wench

05/21/2026

Syrup. Shrub. Infused gin. Rhubarb has more range than most people give it credit for — and it's almost ready to pick. Full guide dropping soon.

04/21/2026

This drink started as a salsa… 🍍
And yes, you can try that too.

Pineapple, shallots, red pepper, citrus, salt… left to sit and do its thing.

It needs time. That’s when the brine and the savoury notes actually show up.

By the time it hits the glass, it’s not just sweet anymore.
You get the fruit first, then the acid… and then that quiet savory edge starts to show up.

And it comes through.
Nothing fighting for attention.

The shallots, the pepper, the brine… all of it playing together in the glass.

Two versions:
    •    Mezcal → smoky, structured, a little deeper
    •    Zero-proof cocktail → brighter, brinier, more expressive

Same base. Completely different experience.
And somehow… neither one falls apart as the ice melts. They just keep evolving.

This one was worth the wait.

Full recipe over on our blog.

04/15/2026

Another yellow snowfall warning in Calgary… cool. Cool cool cool.

So we skipped spring and went straight to summer 🍑☀️
This is Peach & Quiet—roasted peach, thyme, tea, and a proper sour build (without the alcohol).

The trick? Don’t treat it like juice.

Roast the fruit. Add tannin. Give it acid. That’s where the depth comes from.

We’ll be making this one in our next class.

Recipe’s on the blog if you want to try it yourself.

09/17/2025

Cheers to the last days of summer! 🍹☀️
There’s nothing like unwinding on the patio after work with a cocktail in hand. Our box this week came with some beautifully juicy grapefruit, so naturally we mixed up a Paloma—the refreshing Mexican classic that’s been winning hearts since the mid-1900s.

Paloma Recipe
• 2 oz tequila
• 2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
• ½ oz lime juice
• ½ oz simple syrup (optional)
• Top with soda water
• Salt rim & garnish with lime and grapefruit twist

Shake tequila, juices, and syrup with ice, strain into a salt-rimmed glass with fresh ice, and top with soda. Garnish and sip slowly while the September sun still lingers.

Patio season isn’t over yet—what’s in your glass tonight?

07/27/2025

Who kept the spirit of baseball alive while the boys were at war?

Meet Bloody Rhuby.

She’s tart, tough, and a little spicy — just like Ruby Knezovich, the Canadian catcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during WWII.

While the men were overseas, Ruby and her teammates filled stadiums in skirts, lipstick, and steel cleats — and they played hard.

This cocktail’s for her. It swaps the tomato in a classic Bloody Mary for a bold strawberry-chili purée (sweet heat, no filler), adds muddled cucumber for crisp, green coolness, and layers in a rhubarb shrub for prairie tang and complexity.

Think Bloody Mary-but sassier, pinker, and 100% less obedient.

🍹 Bloody Rhuby Recipe:
    •    3 slices cucumber
    •    3 oz strawberry–chili purée
    •    1 oz rhubarb shrub
    •    0.5 oz lime juice
    •    2 oz gin

🥒 Build it like Ruby would: straight in the glass.
    1    Muddle cucumber in a celery-salt-rimmed Collins glass.
    2    Fill halfway with ice.
    3    Add purée, shrub, lime, and gin.
    4    Stir until the cucumber’s floating, not sulking.
    5    Top up with more ice, one more stir, and garnish with a rhubarb stalk (no leaf — she’s got better things to do).

✨ Want it zero-proof?
Leave out the gin, add an extra 0.5 oz of shrub and 1 oz of purée more. Same attitude, zero alcohol.

Bloody Rhuby:
She plays hard, pours harder. ⚾️🍓🔥

07/08/2025

07/08/2025

Shaking things up at the Safeway Kitchen Theatre! 💥

I had a blast sharing my love of zero-proof cocktails and showing how a humble rhubarb shrub can become something truly sippable.

Catch me back on stage Thursday and Friday at 5pm—come say hi and taste something unexpected!

🍹🌿

📸 credit Janis Isaman | .isaman

06/06/2025

🍓🌬️ Prairie Air 🍍☀️
Summer’s on the horizon, and even though we’re landlocked, that doesn’t mean we can’t sip something tropical.

This vibrant cocktail is inspired by Calgary’s famously big, blue skies — bright, breezy, and full of possibility. A splash of blue spirulina gives it that sky-kissed hue, while pineapple, strawberry, and citrus bring the beach vibes home with just enough rum appropriate for when it’s five o’clock somewhere…

✨ Prairie Air Recipe:
• 1.5 oz pineapple nectar
• 0.75 oz homemade strawberry syrup
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 1.5 oz rum
• 0.75 oz egg whites
• 1/8 tsp blue spirulina

Dry shake to fluff up the foam, then shake again with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a pineapple leaf, lemon twist, and a fresh strawberry slice.

Because you don’t need an ocean when you’ve got imagination (and a good cocktail).

***h

05/14/2025

🥂 Happy World Cocktail Day! 🥂

On May 13, 1806, the word “cocktail” was first defined in print—spirit, sugar, water, bitters. Simple. Classic. Revolutionary.

Today, cocktails are so much more than that. They’re cultural time machines, liquid storytelling, and sometimes…a Clamato-fuelled fever dream.

While Bryan Adams was busy getting his first real six-string in the summer of ’69, Calgary gifted us the Caesar—a savoury, spicy, over-the-top Canadian icon that still reigns supreme. 🇨🇦

So whether you’re mixing something bold or sipping something weird, raise a glass to the chaos, craft, and connection in every cocktail.

✨ What’s in your glass today? Tag us and tell us the story behind it. Let’s make it a toast worth telling.

***h

05/08/2025

S’more to Love
Camping season’s calling, and this one’s packed and ready.

Whether you’re heading out for May Long or just lighting up the backyard firepit, this zero-proof cocktail brings a little fireside comfort to your glass.

Ingredients:
• 3 oz chocolate oat milk
• 1 oz toasted marshmallow syrup
• 1 oz cold brew coffee
• Dash of vanilla extract
• Optional: 1 oz espresso vodka or dark rum

Garnish:
• Graham cracker crumb rim
• Toasted marshmallow on a skewer
• Drizzle of chocolate syrup (inside the glass or on top)

Instructions:
1. Rim a martini glass with chocolate syrup and dip in crushed graham crackers.
2. In a shaker with ice, combine chocolate oat milk, toasted marshmallow syrup, cold brew, and vanilla.
3. Shake well and strain into your prepared glass.
4. Garnish with a toasted marshmallow and enjoy by the fire.

To make toasted marshmallow syrup:
Roast 12 marshmallows until golden and melty. Add into ¾ cup hot water, add 1/3 cup sugar then stir until dissolved. Strain to remove any bits, then cool before using.

S’more cozy, s’more fun.