First Bites: Spring 2020
Purveyor of potions
“Yes, I’m the Boozewitch,” says Kelly Anne Woods, as she recounts the story of how she got her name. A veteran of Vancouver’s beverage industry, Woods has spent the last 20 years working as a mixologist, sommelier and distiller. A friend, who was sitting at the bar where Woods was working at the time, christened her the Boozewitch for her deft skill at creating “potions.” There’s history in the witch part, too — she discovered that one of her ancestors was tried and convicted of witchcraft. “So I come by the name honestly,” she laughs. A co-founder of Gillespie’s Fine Spirits, she began looking for ways to engage differently with drink when she was pregnant with her son. Her line of locally produced shrubs was born and the name Boozewitch was the obvious choice. “Rhubarb is a perennial North American favourite. Its arrival heralds spring,” Woods says. While it’s great on its own or combined with soda, Woods says her rhubarb angelica ginger shrub was really “designed for gin.” Try it with Gillespie’s Sin Gin and a splash of soda.
Gillespie’s Fine Spirits
Unit 8 - 38918 Progress Way, Squamish
gillespiesfinespirits.com | @gillespiesfinespirits
Find it at: Welk’s General Store, Famous Foods, Queensdale Market (North Vancouver), online
This girl's got jam
A fixture at Vancouver farmers' markets, Geneviève Blanchet of Le Meadows Pantry is known for inspiring combinations of herbs and aromatics she uses to create her jams, jellies and award-winning marmalades. “A meadow for me,” she says, “is where you can feed yourself with the most delightful food and creations.” While you’ll find up to six of her flavours in retail shops, year-round, at her farmers' market stand Blanchet offers up jams featuring the current season’s bounty. “I find a lot of inspiration and it allows me to share new flavours. Without the farmers' market, I would feel very limited in my creativity.“ This philosophy is evidence during spring when she offers several varieties of rhubarb jam. “I love rhubarb because it's the first vegetable to sprout in the spring when the earth is still cold. Rhubarb’s affinity to pair with different flavours makes it a very exciting time. Its natural acidity combines well with floral notes such as roses, angelica or elderflower. It also works well with spices such as ginger or cinnamon, honey, blood orange, and of course, vanilla.”
Le Meadows Pantry
lemeadowspantry.com | @lemeadowspantry
Find it at: Vancouver Farmers' Market, online
Think pink
Provincial Spirits opened in January 2019 when Jesse Bannister, a designer with a love of cocktails, saw a gap in the market for high-quality bottled versions. He opened Provincial Spirits Tasting House in Port Coquitlam, offering bottled cocktails made with fresh juices and local produce, created in house. Just off the Maryhill Bypass, the room is a charming surprise in an industrial park. The cocktail creations spawn several distinctive spirits and were developed primarily for the tasting house, but Bannister offers bottles for customers to purchase, too. Rhubarb sourced from Never Say Die Farm in nearby Pitt Meadows is macerated in 95 per cent base spirit with a host of botanicals, including juniper, citrus, coriander, pink peppercorn, salt and chinchona bark. “We made our rhubarb gin to be a clean summer sipper. We wanted a spirit that could highlight the fruit and its tart, tangy beauty. The flavour of crisp gin, jammy rhubarb and pink peppercorn sounded so wild, weird and wonderful, we had to make it.” Get in line for this one. It’s available for pre-order and will be released in August.
Provincial Spirits
573 Sherling Place, Unit 1170 - 1130, Port Coquitlam
provincialspirits.co | @provincialspirits
