"The Fellini" from Joel Virginillo at The Refinery

There’s something special about The Refinery. It could be the tasty Italian-influenced bites courtesy of chef Kirk Morrison, the very affordable prices, the talent behind the bar, or maybe its location on downtown Granville Street – an area known for nightclubs and not for quality food and drink. Maybe it’s the fun events hosted here weekly dating back to Lauren Mote’s Cocktail Kitchen, to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Wednesdays, to the Cork & Distillery Four Course Dinners starting this month. Or perhaps it’s the culinary approach that the bar takes to the cocktails and the dedication that they have to making everything fresh and in-house rather than stocking an extensive back bar. Looking past the wells you’ll see counters covered in hand-labeled mystery liquids, and around the restaurant itself are a multitude of shelves displaying mason jars of tinctures, bitters, infusions, preserves, teas, and herbs. Most bars nowadays have the occasional housemade bitters or flavoured syrups, but The Refinery takes this to a whole new level.

Chatting with bar manager Joel Virginillo reveals a passionate interest in all aspects of flavour and an ambition to combine them.

How do you view the cocktail program at The Refinery?
“The spirits we have here are selective – it’s the bitters and tinctures that are really the personality. Customers are getting more used to saying ‘I like this flavour but not this flavour’, and then we create something special for them. Something that sets us apart here is how we really nurture that – that’s what drew me to this place. Being able to take any random number of ingredients and throw something together that’s quality is really exciting. The most pleasure I get is from that culinary background of being able to create something individual for a specific guest.”

Where does that culinary approach come from for you?
“I actually started in the kitchen and studied at the Dubrulle French Culinary Institute when I was fifteen and afterwards had the chance to work with some amazing chefs. After that I went to a bartending school and actually ended up teaching there for five years before doing some consulting for nightclubs and it just went from there.”

How do you view the use of bitters and tinctures behind the bar?
“I like having a lot of options for flavour, and I’m also looking at the apothecary side of it and the health benefits of the ingredients I use. I definitely got inspiration from both Lauren and Dani (Tatarin from The Keefer) in that respect. Bitters, and for the most part the entire cocktail culture came from the medicinal side of things, and one day I want to create my own line of fairly profound bitters that have immediate health benefits. My ideal bar would have little vials and containers covering the entire back wall with raw teas, spices, nuts, and all this stuff – having that as part of the bar kit and almost replacing the back bar.”

Where do you think cocktail culture is going overall?
“The industry is really turning towards the personal relationship between the creators and the guests. Ten years ago it was pretty rare that anyone would care who the chef is at a restaurant, now you seek these people out and want to talk to them, and that’s now translating to the front of house and bartenders. Media has brought a lot of light to chefs and what it really means to be a professional in the flavour industry.
I think this ties into the economy right now too – people want a lot more quality for a lot less money, and a whole lot more feeling and story behind it. They want to know that they’re getting the most out of their dollar. People are going to a specific bar to meet a specific bartender for a special experience. There’s so much more to that than just going to a chain restaurant and getting a squishy out of a machine.
People’s palates and tastes have really changed too and everyone is really expecting quality now.”

Where do you see Vancouver’s cocktail culture going?
“Vancouver has the attention span of a gerbil. It’s so hard to tell where the trends are going, and while I like hearing what other bartenders are doing, I don’t pay a lot of attention and follow trends. I do what I’m interested in.”

How do you approach creating a new drink?
“I love changing people’s perceptions of something. Mixing with interesting spirits that aren’t overly common is one of my new interests, like pisco or grappa. Using good bases and having a ton of options. I definitely play with flavours in the spirit, but I also try to do a lot of things regionally – things that grow together tend to work really well together. A lot of our cocktails have classic origins, but we’ve taken them and done our thing. Any good bartender has to pay credit to classic cocktails.”

What cocktail have you chosen to share today?
It’s one that showcases our cocktail program, our Italian mentality, and what we do here. It’s sort of a classic cocktail with a little flare. There was a guy I knew was on a sherry kick, saying that port and sherry aren’t in cocktails enough, so when he came in I knew I wanted to start with that. Using a grape spirit base makes sense since the port is also grape-based, so grappa should work well, and we do a wicked grape bitter. The combination was very light, so adding Cynar gave it that herbaceous depth. I called it “The Fellini,” after the influential Italian filmmaker.

Originally posted on www.eatmagazine.ca by Rhett Williams
Photography by Rhett Williams: "The Fellini" by Joel Virginillo at The Refinery, Vancouver, 2012

The Fellini

1oz grappa
1/2oz Cynar
1/2oz Tawny Port
Dash of The Refinery’s grape bitters

Combine ingredients with ice. Stir. Strain over rocks.
Flame an orange peel over the drink and garnish.

Amaro April: "Welcome To The Dark Side" from Cin Cin

Heading north once again to beautiful Vancouver takes us to the heart of downtown, peering over the street lights and night-shoppers of Robson street. Multiple award-winning contemporary Italian restaurant, Cin Cin, has been a big name in the Vancouver food scene for some time, but like Blue Water Cafe, I sometimes wonder if people realize how amazing the bar program is as well. Ignore the misleading "fresh juice martini's" offer on the website and look at the actual bar menu that offers several excellent classics, and some solid and simple originals. Bourbon is a common theme here, and continue scanning down (or continue flipping through, next time you're there) the menu and you'll find pages and pages of grappa. You'll even find it in some of the cocktails, including their signature, the Negroni Cin Cin, featuring Beniamino moscato grappa, Punt e Mes, Aperol, and a few drops of orange bitters, served on the rocks with orange peel. In fact, Cin Cin is awaiting one more shipment that should give it the largest selection of grappa in North America (at the moment, I've been told only one restaurant in San Francisco is ahead).
The man behind this program is one of the true veterans of the Vancouver bar scene, CPBA director, Colin Turner. Bringing experience from over twenty years of being behind the bar in some capacity, Colin is an expert of the craft - and I mean bartending, not just mixology. He creates cocktails that suit your palate while being engaging, entertaining, and informative, making Cin Cin another top choice for a great drinking experience. He will also create something to pair nicely with your meal, believing that cocktails, particularly those of the bourbon persuasion, can work excellently alongside food - a view I very rarely encounter. Should you feel so inclined, the wine list is also award-winning, as is the dessert menu, so there is many a reason to make the trip.

Requesting to meet Colin to discuss Amaro April brought me not only a ton of information, but also some great drinks. I went through some originals he'd been tinkering with, including one with Bols genever, Amaro Ramazzotti, St. Germain, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters, and orange peel, and another that I loved with Rittenhouse Bonded 100, Amaro Nardini, maraschino, and Bitter Truth aromatic bitters. Ultimately for his amaro post, I had to go with one currently on the menu, and one that will soon actually be tied around the neck of any bottle of Averna you buy from the BCLS (whenever they get around to bringing some in!) - "Welcome To The Dark Side."
When Colin tried a Black Manhattan, he found it to be terrible (though I argue he had a poorly-made one, because it can be a good drink), but found something in the mix that was worth tweaking. Using, as he puts it, the "full sweetness of Aperol" to pull the Averna and bourbon together, he balanced with just a little of St. Germain, which unlike most other liqueurs, has an "acidity that really cuts through." Adding just one other factor in the muddled orange peel to bring the oils to the full taste of the cocktail and not just the nose, it needed only a name, one he chose in honour of both a bumper sticker in the Cin Cin office, but also the several Star Wars geeks on staff. The sugar content feels quite high after you finish your glass, but it is not at all overly-sweet in your mouth as the bitterness of both amari balance things out and the bourbon provides a full-bodied backbone.

Welcome To The Dark Side

1.5oz Maker's Mark 46 Bourbon
1oz Amaro Averna
0.25oz Aperol
0.25oz St. Germain
Orange peel

Lightly muddle the orange peel in the mixing glass. Add ingredients, then ice and stir. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a fresh orange peel, squeezing oils over the top of the glass.


If you're at all interested in grappa, or perhaps learning about a new spirit if you don't know what it is, Cin Cin is THE place to go, and all the staff are informative. It's not at all a spirit I know well, but I find myself stopping by there lately just to try a new kind. Head to Cin Cin soon if you can for both food and drink because they're both fantastic, or at the very least head there for a drink from Colin and take a turn to the Dark Side.

[[ See my post on amaro digestivos here ]]
[[ See my post on amaro aperivos here ]]
[[ See a buying guide for amaro here ]]

[[ See "The One Hit Wonder" from L'abattoir in Vancouver here ]]
[[ See "The Penny Farthing" from Pourhouse here ]]
[[ See an introduction to amaro  here ]]
[[ See "The Imperial Eagle" from Bourbon & Branch here ]]
[[ See "Sevilla" from Beretta here ]]
[[ See "Fallow Grave" from the Toronto Temperance Society here ]]
[[ See "The Black Prince" from Phil Ward here ]]
[[ See "Bad Apple" and "Jackson Ward" from Amor y Amargo here ]]
[[ See "The Four Horsemen" from Jay Jones at Shangri-La here ]]
[[ See Colin MacDougall from Blue Water Cafe here ]]
[[ See "Debbie Don't" from Dutch Kills here ]]
[[ See "Foolish Games" from Russel Davis here ]]
[[ See "Intro To Aperol" from Audrey Saunders at Pegu Club here ]]