Mother Cocktail Bar
Massimo Zitti is a microbe wrangler, and his frustration is that microbes don’t always behave. I’m at the edgy Queen Street West strip, where facial stubble and lofts in old factories dominate, but fear not, this is a welcoming place for those whose edges have long been smoothed over, if they ever existed.
Mother’s Cocktail Bar is low lit and on a midweek early evening sports a varied mix of customers gathered on the 12 bar stools, or around the six intimate tables and three high tops. A modern jazz-inspired soundtrack is playing just loud enough to give it an interesting vibe but not enough to distract. For this is a place to engage with and savour its range of unique complex fermented cocktails.
I start with the Distant Shadow, one of their six signature fermented cocktails. The fermentation has transformed the main ingredients, scotch whisky and a year old ferment of Italian red wine.
Massimo tells me that he constantly wrestles with pesky fermentation as it’s impossible to entirely control the living entities. Most of his customers expect the same cocktail taste profile each time. But like different vintages of a particular wine, each growing season is different and expresses itself accordingly. By careful intricate management, Massimo succeeds and the result is nothing short of miraculous.
My cocktail is a lovely rose red, slightly cloudy. The aroma is an intriguing blend of herbal and spice. The significant fermentation aromatics hint at an earthy, savoury profile. The initial taste has low acidy, modest sweetness, a touch of salinity and noticeable alcohol. It’s a complex, multi-layered, full-bodied, smooth taste with slightly funky elements leaning towards tinges of citric with just the hint of effervescence. As it lingers in my glass, I am aware of the acidity softening revealing an aftertaste of savoury complexity.
A generous plate of warm in-house-made sourdough bread with red miso butter is the perfect accompaniment.
I move on to one of their barrel-aged cocktails. I’m intrigued by the Toasted Sesame Sazerac a curious combination of rye whiskey, cognac, absinthe, lemon husk, apricot liquor, Peychaud’s bitters finished off with toasted sesame and lemon mist. Who invents this stuff I silently ask myself? Ah, but the taste!
In the glass it looks inoffensive, a pale golden colour with viscous legs and on the nose a lovely floral spice mingled with savoury, honeyed stone fruit fermentation aromas. There’s more pronounced citric acidity and salinity in this cocktail. It too is complex with a little funk from the fermentation. The liquorice from the absinthe comes through, although its dialed back by the lemon husks. This is another cocktail to savour and marvel at its complexity, evolution and length.
Massimo’s interest in fermentation and the science behind it arose in childhood. He fermented just about everything that fell into his hands. With time, he developed recipes and things expanded from there. He wanted to try something few had tried before in the drinks scene, although he tacitly acknowledges some of the ideas were developed by the world-beating Noma restaurant. Fortunately, experimenting with microbes is relatively inexpensive.
Curiously, the name Mother was inspired by the mother dough the eternal basis of their delicious sourdough bread. In an ironic touch, they opened on 19 May 2019, Canadian Mother’s day.
Introduce yourself to some microbes. You will thank me.
Alberta Distillers
80 years ago an interesting and perhaps improbable trio, an oil man, a rancher and a man whose family shipped booze to the US during prohibition, founded Alberta Distillers.
We are fortunate they did. Today, now part of the global Suntory brand it remains true to its origins in Calgary sitting high and dry and benefiting from the clear waters of the Rocky Mountains.
To mark their milestone anniversary, they issued two special limited-release rye whiskey’s. Alberta Premium Cask Strength 10-Year-Old and Rare Batch Issue No. 2.
Despite their foundation of prairie-grown rye grain, these are distinctive tipples. Batch 2 is smooth and elegant, a whisky for contemplative sipping. Cask Strength is an approachable but more knock it out of the park.
The promotional material for the Premium Cask Strength 10-year-old notes it was aged for a decade in charred oak casks, then bottled at 67% ABV. It was recently named Best Canadian Rye at the World Whiskies Awards 2026.
Time to get out my Glencairn whisky glass. In appearance, it’s clear pale gold with thick legs. The aroma is intense with sweet, spicy, nutty and herbal notes. On the palate spice comes through with caramelised sweetness mingling with herbaceous notes. This is a complex, well-integrated whisky proudly showing Canadian prairie whisky at its best. Rare Batch Issue No. 2 I’m told spent more than 20 years in three distinct barrel types, Canadian Whisky, Bourbon Whisky, and New White Oak all laid down in a warehouse 3,400 ft above sea level in the foothills of the Rockies, where the dry mountain air and chinook winds gradually worked their magic.
A more moderate 50% ABV it too is a clear pale gold with thin slow legs. I noted aromas of vanilla, a dark sweetness and some spice. The palate was lush, rich and elegant with caramel and lingering sweetness ending with a long slightly spicy kick. This well integrated complex whisky deserves your attention and contemplation.
Spanish Pig
Canned foods first hit the market around 1820. The first can opener was patented in 1858 and it was more likely to injure the user than to open the can. The earliest version of the modern serrated wheel can opener only appeared a century later in 1925. Shopkeepers in the meantime would open a customers can with hammer and chisel.
Things have changed. Stepping into the store Spanish Pig, at the lower end of Roncesvalles, I’m greeted by a cornucopia of cans. Not one of them needs a hammer and chisel. In fact, Johnathon Larrad the Anglo Spanish proprietor only has a large knife. He deftly slices off a thin strip of the aged Jamon Iberico one of three sitting on jamonera at the counter for me to try. Exquisite, nutty and rich. I could be back in Spain at a Tapas bar.
I bounce around the store in an almost feverish acquisitive state. Oh! I must try the squid in ink, but wait, there’s baby eels, and maybe some razor clams. Wow, olives stuffed with anchovies. The shelves are lined with an astonishing array of premium canned seafood, including sardines, tuna, tuna belly, mackerel, mussels, scallops, cockles, clams, octopus, there seems no end to it. All are sourced from small, artisanal producers, ensuring the highest level of quality and uniqueness. I’m soon
staggering out with enough to fill a semi trailer. But not before I’m fortified by a Jamon Ibericio sandwich on a fresh crusty Blackbird baguette. And for the full Tapas bar experience I opt for a glass from their extensive list of wines. Bottles of these carefully curated wines and some ciders are also available for take home.
Hospitality and shopkeeping runs in Larrad’s family where in Madrid his great grandfather opened a food store in 1914. Although Spanish Pig has been opened only three years he follows the family philosophy, stock only premium products with minimal intervention.
I ask Johnathan about recipes. Why not have a Spanish “seacuterie” he suggests – open a few cans onto a serving board in place of the usual charcuterie and pair with an Albarino or a Txakoli from the Basque region. There are also recipes on the website of his sister company Tinmonger.
