Move over, Caesar! These seven cocktails have Canadian roots too.
Moose Milk
The Canadian navy, army, and air force all claim to have invented this one. The milkshake-like concoction includes rum, coffee liqueur, ice cream, and maple syrup, plus nutmeg and cinnamon. Huh. It’s possible that we’d rather drink actual milk from a moose, but sure.
The Caribou
Combine red wine, rye whiskey, and maple syrup for this sweet take on mulled wine. The drink allegedly originated from an old fur-trapper’s drink that mixed whiskey with caribou blood. Well, desperate times call for…something desperately disgusting, apparently.
The B-52
A bartender in Banff, Alta., named Peter Fich created this cocktail in the late ’70s. He named the drink—a layered cocktail containing coffee liqueur, orange liqueur, and Irish Cream—after a New Wave band from the state of Georgia. He concocted all kinds of drinks, all named after his favourite bands, but the B-52 was the only one that became popular.
The Raymond Massey
The who? Raymond Massey was a Canadian actor most well-known for playing Abraham Lincoln—he portrayed the man in multiple plays and movies, including Abe Lincoln in Illinois, for which he received an Oscar nomination. The drink is a mix of whiskey and ginger syrup topped with champagne and garnished with lemon peel.
The Angry Canadian
Another drink that includes maple syrup, the Angry Canadian is a twist on the Old Fashioned, invented in 2013. It’s a combination of whiskey, bitters, club soda, and, of course, the syrup, which replaces the sugar in a traditional Old Fashioned. Why is it angry? Unclear. Maybe if you drink too many you get riled up.
The Donald Sutherland
If you don’t know who Donald Sutherland is, you have no business calling yourself Canadian. Just kidding. But also: watch Six Degrees of Separation. Or Outbreak. Or The Italian Job. Or…tons of other movies. Sutherland is apparently a fan of rye whiskey—this twist on a Rusty Nail includes the spirit.
The Sourtoe Cocktail
Okay, so maybe “cocktail” is a misnomer, since this drink, invented in Dawson City, Yukon, is just a shot of whiskey. Oh, with the addition of a preserved human toe. Allegedly, in the ’70s, someone found a jar containing a human toe in a remote Yukon cabin—the toe was left there by a pair of brothers, one of whom had frostbite, so the toe had to come off. And be put in a jar. Obviously. And then the jar-finder decided to make a drink that involved the toe. Because…? Well, Robert Service did say that “there are strange things done in the midnight sun,” so we’ll just go with that.
There is no recipe. It’s whiskey. And a toe.