1 of 1 2 of 1 Straight, No Chaser looks to Vancouver’s talented mixologists for stories from behind the stick. We find out how they create, what they love, where their favourite bar is, and what they grew up watching their parents drink. Who are you I’m Liam Hatton, bartender at Published on Main.
I moved to Vancouver three years ago from Nova Scotia. When I can, I’m outside on my paddleboard or in Lions Bay hiking around the woods. My parents mixed My mom doesn’t drink much, but my father made wine and beer when I was growing up.
He is the reason I also chose to pursue the life of a bartender, because he had a pots, pans, and kitchenware store called The Cookhouse and he put on wine classes to get your WSET [Wine & Spirit Education Trust] or CAPS [Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers] level wine education. So I became the wine pourer, and since then I haven’t stopped pouring liquids that taste great. The creative process My creative process is very theme-based—I have to have a plan for what things are going to be.
I have made wild cocktails like a donaire cocktail, and I have made fountain cocktails, and the thing that connects them all is they are all based on classic specs. I also use the motto my old brewer, Mike Gillespie, told me when I was making new beers: “Make something other people will like, not what you like.” Best drink I ever had The best drinks I have had would have to be the smoked old-fashioned from Bar Chef in Toronto.
I was given.
