BEST of ROYAL COCKTAILS in KING WEST

The summer may be winding down, but there’s still time to enjoy those final sips of warm-weather cocktails in King West. From neon-hued martinis to “slushies on steroids,” there are plenty of options to appeal to all palettes; just pick your perfect taste for the day and head to the bar, before those last rays of summer sunshine fade away.

PAESE RISTORANTE

Shane Mulvany, who has worked with internationally-renowned cocktail innovator Tony Conigliaro at 69 Colebrooke Row (3-time ‘World’s Best Bar Nominee’) and The Zetter Townhouse, is now head bartender at Toronto’s PAESE Ristorante (Follow on Twitter @PaeseRistorante) located along restaurant row at 333 King Street West, across from TIFF Bell Lightbox .

Mulvany’s favourite colour is blue, but he suggested refreshing berry red cocktails from his new summer menu. (He’s also really excited about his new “TIFF Menu” coming soon for party week throughout the festival.)

I taste some of Mulvany’s best mixes, including the Spiced Strawberry Swizzle and the Raspberry Mule. The mule kick comes from Absolut vodka, raspberry syrup, lime juice and Mulvany’s award-winning, homemade ginger beer.

“It’s a Barbados spiced liqueur, and you can’t buy it in Canada, unfortunately,” says Mulvany. “So I have to make it myself.” He calls it a “slushy on steroids”—a powerful, potent punch of Caribbean summer heat.

And the ginger beer is not the only thing Mulvany makes. The strawberry and raspberry syrups in the cocktails are homemade, providing drinks that are delightfully unique and refreshing, with a five-star-resort taste.

“We are fortunate to have Shane Mulvany on our team,” says PAESE’s general manager, Gordon Adams. “I don’t believe anyone in Toronto can do what he does with drinks. His many scientific cocktail-making methods were learned at the renowned Conigliaro’s Drink Factory Lab and he’s putting that experience into practice at PAESE.”

CRUSH WINE BAR

Crush, located at 455 King Street West (Follow on  Twitter @CrushWineBarTO), is a breath of fresh air at the hour when the workday hasn’t quite ended and the regulars haven’t yet arrived. The bartender attends to me immediately, offering his undivided attention the entire time. Something Blue and summery is what I’m looking for, so no better time for an afternoon cocktail appropriately named the Blue Devil Margarita, which includes Tierra tequila, Bols Blue curaçao, Grand Marnier and freshly squeezed lime juice.

Shaken and poured over ice, the drink—and its colour—takes me to the blue ocean of Los Cabos, Mexico. I could easily forget that I was raised a good Catholic girl if the Blue Devil became a habit. It’s tempting me—more, please.

But there are other end-of-summer temptations to be had at Crush, and executive chef Trista Sheen and general manager, Sarah Lyons can’t wait to share them. Their pride of the season is Crush’s newly launched table-side cocktail service, featuring signature Manhattans and cocktails of gin and house-made tonic.

“It’s Toronto’s first table-side bar cart,” she said, adding that it offers a “Mad Men cocktail-hour kind of feel.”

The bar cart also presents a unique offering: flights of Manhattans. It’s a fun fit alongside Crush’s traditional wine flights, and a warm welcome to the early days of fall that loom on the horizon.

HEY LUCY CAFE

Many restaurants in downtown Toronto come and go as quickly as the seasons—so when you find one that has staying power, it’s for good reason. Hey Lucy, found at 295 King Street West (on Facebook Hey Lucy King), is one of those places.

This long-standing staple in the King West Entertainment District serves up affordable drinks for those looking for something low on pretension and high on easy-going vibes. The cocktails are simple, colourful and pack a mighty wallop with their deceiving fruity flavours that make for some easy sipping on a warm summer’s night.

The evening I arrive, it’s still early and the bar is quiet. It helps that it’s not a Wednesday, which is the night that Hey Lucy offers $3.99 martinis (normally $8.99), and bargain-hunting cocktail fans come to imbibe everything from classic dry martinis to neon-coloured sugar highs. I’m there on my own specific mission: find something tasty and Blue that can serve as homage to King Blue’s taste and style.

The bartender, Felicia, gives me her recommendations and shakes up a round of samples. First up is the Breeze. It’s made from Hypnotiq, Malibu coconut rum and pineapple juice, and makes me think of conga lines by the pool at a Caribbean resort.

Drink number two is the Fuzzy—a fuzzy navel with a splash of Hypnotiq to offer some blue hue. It’s tart and tangy and with just enough vodka taste to remind me that I’m not just sipping on mere fruit juice.

The cocktails are flirty and fun, but I take a pass on the third offering, called the Tidy Bowl—the name was too much for this blogger to brave. It’s another Malibu and pineapple concoction, but with McGuinness blue curaçao providing the blast of blue.

True, Hey Lucy’s crayon-hued cocktails won’t necessarily appeal to those seeking a more refined drink experience. But if you’re after something fun and light on a mid-week afternoon, it doesn’t get much better than this.

WESLODGE

There are some things you don’t expect to see in downtown Toronto. A stuffed buffalo head above one of the city’s newest bars is one of them. Same goes for bartenders wearing gun holsters. But at Weslodge, located at 480 King Street West (Follow on Twitter @Weslodge), an eclectic western-meets-urban setting has managed to make hunting trophies and guns (neither real, of course) fit right in.

That theme of urban saloon carries over into the bar’s cocktail selection, which Weslodge’s director of cocktails, Elan Marks, describes as unique and approachable, and heavily inspired by brown spirits during the days of prohibition.

“Prohibition had a big effect on the American cocktail in the sense of spirits that were being smuggled in and then chopped into larger quantities,” he explains. “The quality of the spirit really dropped, so bartenders were forced to use sugars and citrus and bitters and tonics to make the drinks palatable. So that’s a huge focus for us.”

That emphasis on citrus and sugar is evident in the cocktail I order on a blissfully warm weekend. The Sweetest Kill, which is part of Weslodge’s Sunday brunch cocktail menu, is made from Grey Goose vodka, St. Germain elderflower liquor, fresh lemon, spiced orange and cava—and tastes like lemonade for grown-ups. Its tartness catches me off guard, and I pucker up as I sip and swallow. But it’s crisp and refreshing—the perfect antidote to the heat outside.

What makes Weslodge’s cocktails so unique is the behind-the-scenes efforts that go into them, says Marks. Bitters and tonics are made in-house, offering a truly original drink experience. “You see us make the drink and you see us add a few drops of something to it, but you don’t realize that we’re sourcing out rare barks, roots, spices and herbs, and creating batches of bitters that we have to age for six to eight weeks and then strain, just to put those two drops of essence into your cocktail.”

Even care goes into creating the perfect ice cubes, thanks to the restaurant’s cold draft machine. The crystal-clear ice cubes it produces have a slower melting pace—which keeps your drink cool and tasting exactly as it should, as you sip away those final days of summer.

So hit the pub and grab a glass. There are only a few weeks left to enjoy those refreshing sips of summer cocktail season.