- Canon’s Facebook
Jamie Boudreau—formerly of Vancouver, BC’s Daniel Boulud restaurant Lumiere (he still says “about” funny) and Vessel downtown, both now closed—is finally opening his own bar: Canon Whiskey and Bitters Emporium. He hopes it’ll happen this weekend; he’s waiting on getting wine and beer, which, for a man completely fixated on liquor, must be painful. Last night, there was a preview.
Canon is where Licorous used to be, and the Upscale Barbie Dream Date decor has been replaced with dark upholstery, an antique cash register, a bar stained with Angostura bitters (on purpose), and such an extensive and beautiful liquor collection, it’s somewhat unbelievable. Shelves upon shelves of bottles glow alluringly—there must be tens of thousands of dollars of liquor, with more on the way. As Boudreau put it, he wants his patrons to be “ensconced in booze.” To that end, a 100-drink menu-book is soon going to the printer; barrel-aged cocktails will be served in glass flasks; and punch bowls will be available to tables. The Great Gatsby is in the house. The ice cubes will, surely, be perfect.
Boudreau was, I believe, the first barkeep in Seattle to give each cocktail on his menu a date, a place of origin, and a composer as available, back at Vessel in 2006. He was also the first barkeep to lecture me about vodka (look—everybody’s doing it now!)—he told me that same year that vodka lacks complexity, is “for amateurs,” and lies beneath consideration, and that it would not now nor ever appear on his cocktail menu. He said this with more charm than you would think possible; he’s a charming man. And I think I read somewhere that he said at Canon, he wasn’t going to be a vodka totalitarian (you can go try to order a vodka drink when it opens and see).
Canon is going to be the new, arguably ridiculous, arguably great pinnacle of Seattle cocktail culture.
There is such a thing as good vodka, but it should be consumed chilled and by the shot. “Complexity” is for whiskey and wine; not every spirit should be judged this way.
This is my kind of ridiculous. I say we all show up in black-tie, smoking cigars.
Next Slog Happy? Slog Fancy?
I need ridiculousness. The loss of Delilah’s in Vancouver’s West End with its fresco and renowned martini menu was a real blow.
The idea of people paying gobs of money for a “vodka bar” does make me laugh. I mean, there is “good vodka”, but it shouldn’t cost that much for a bottle/drink as compared to more difficult-to-create spirits. And the idea of a bar devoted entirely to tasteless spirits is pretty sad.
@1: Agreedo.
I don’t see anything wrong with culinary elitism.
Based on the image, they might have a wee problem with Iconix Group, owner of the “brand identity” of Cannon Fieldcrest, the late purveyor of sheets and towels.
Not that I give a hoot, and maybe they won’t either. As I have a relatively new interest in bitters, this Stranger bar/restaurant link goes in my Next Road Trip folder.
Canon sounds delicious, but enough of the vodka hate.
No, there isn’t a glossily marketed yet mass-produced “luxury” vodka worth its price tag.
But line up five solid, mid-priced, small-batch vodkas next to one another — from Austin’s $18 Tito’s to Interbay’s $31 Sound Spirits — and do a taste test, and then try to tell me they lack nuance and distinction. Body matters. Harshness or softness matters. The source ingredients matter.
If the elites of the cocktail industry do this and can’t taste anything but “neutral,” then I have no reason to trust their taste buds on anything else.
(On Slog, of course, we get blowhards like Fnarf claiming that all small-batch vodkas are bulk-purchased industrial ethanol redistilled and bottled. There is only one known brand that does that; it’s called Skyy and no one with half of a brain would lump that rotgut in with anything small-batch.)
@6: “But line up five solid, mid-priced, small-batch vodkas next to one another — from Austin’s $18 Tito’s to Interbay’s $31 Sound Spirits — and do a taste test, and then try to tell me they lack nuance and distinction. Body matters. Harshness or softness matters. The source ingredients matter.”
All this is true, and I loooooove Tito’s, but while mouthfeel/body/harshness certainly vary from vodka to vodka, in most cases these subtle nuances are obliterated by ice and the other mixers.