THE FRESH SHEET: Food & Drink Happenings (Feb. 25)

Mark Brand, co-owner of Gastown’s Boneta and Diamond restaurants (and a past Bartender of the Year award winner at the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards), won the gold medal at the Mixlympic Games, held at Yaletown’s George Ultra Lounge this past Saturday (Feb. 20). The competition pitted six of Europe’s top bartenders against four Canadians, among them Vancouver’s own David Wolowidnyk (West) and Jay Jones (Pourhouse), the latter placing third behind David Gregg of London, England. Each bartender was given 10 minutes to create a cocktail using Martin Miller’s gin and at least one of five “black box” mystery ingredients: Venturi-Shulze 25-year-old balsamic vinegar; Vista D’Oro Farms preserves made from blood orange, vanilla, and Campari; R&B;Brewing Co.’s Iceholes Celebration Lager; local oysters; and Maker’s Mark high-proof “White Dog” whiskey (the clear distillate before it goes into the barrel and takes on the brown colour of bourbon). Among the judges was WE food writer Andrew Morrison. “This was the highest level of bartending talent I’d ever seen assembled in Vancouver,” he reports. “Brand’s drink, which saw the gin amped up with White Dog and cooled off with Iceholes Lager, was bound with egg white, dotted with juniper berries, and spiced with a bitters he made on the spot. Aside from being the best tasting drink of the day, it was also the best looking. He carved out a perfect maple leaf from a grapefruit skin as a garnish, and presented the lot in an old Petro-Canada collectible goblet glass from the 1988 Olympics.”