Local
Vancouver mixologist wins for Moroccan spirit
David Wolowidnyk pours his award winning cocktail, the Beldi, at West Restaurant in Vancouver Tuesday. (CARMINE MARINELLI, 24 HOURS)
By TYLER ORTON, 24 HOURS
As Tuesday morning’s rain pitter-patters on the sidewalks outside West restaurant at 2881 Granville, bartender David Wolowidnyk is energized while talking about his Japanese-inspired Kakkoii cocktail.
“It’s bright, it’s refreshing and, I think, perfect for summer,” he said, adding it’s also good for people wishing to use booze to drown out the sound of this month’s unseasonably dreary weather.
He spends a few moments mixing the cocktail — made from Bombay Sapphire gin, plum wine, cinnamon syrup and fresh lemon juice — before revealing the drink won the regional contest responsible for sending him to Morocco for a global cocktail competition May 20 to 24.
Having just returned to Vancouver last week after catching four connecting flights back home, Wolowidnyk said all he needed was one moment of inspiration while preparing for Bombay Sapphire’s inaugural ‘Most Imaginative Bartender’ competition.
His epiphany came while dozing off in the car ride back to his hotel from a coriander field in Morocco.
“When I woke up, I said, ‘I know what I’m doing. I know what I’m going to do,’” he recalls while mixing his new Beldi drink at the restaurant he’s worked at the past seven years.
“I wanted every aspect of this cocktail to be inspired by and guided by Morocco and Marrakech. That was the entire point of the challenge to me.”
Wolowidnyk’s instincts were correct. Using Moroccan mint green tea and saffron as the centerpiece of his gin concoction, he beat out his last seven competitors and was crowned winner.
The Beldi, which means “natural” in Arabic, also consists of ginseng, cinnamon syrup, and toasted coriander tincture. After pouring the drink from a traditional North African teapot, he tops the cocktail off with a lemon skin garnish shaped like the star of the Moroccan flag.
The Beldi joined the Kakkoii on West’s drink menu Tuesday.
More Local
- Hand, foot sent to Vancouver schools but links to Magnotta not confirmed
- GOOD NEWS: ALS patients get their life back
- VPD, RCMP play blame game as Missing Women Inquiry wraps up
- More warrants issued in Tamil migrant case
- First Nations groups sign on in support of Enbridge pipeline project
- ‘Richmond Foodie Blogger’ revealed
- Ten other targets found on suspected Burnaby killer’s hit list
- Public consultation begins on proposed Vancouver viaduct replacement
- 100,000 new tourism jobs by 2020
- Police overlooked Mitchell despite three warnings
- Missing women lawyer calls inquiry ‘incomplete’
- Websites go black in enviro protest
- Sex offender relocates to Penticton
- GOOD NEWS: Aquarium celebrates 10 years since whale’s return to the wild
- Cross-border crime meeting between Washington and B.C.
- Sunshine Coast capsizing victims identified
- Helicopter crash victims identified
- So you think you can busk?
- Capilano death a result of attempt to retrieve dropped bank card
- Kitsilano gets its groove back
Poll
