SYLVANUS URBAN Sylvanus Urban - The Space Issue | Page 8

Keep It Level
SPACE OUT YOUR
DRINKS IN STYLE
Author: Christine Sismondo
Forget pre-drinking.
Once you hit a certain point,
most of us stop looking for ways
to max out our buzz. In fact,
many of us start looking for ways
to slow it down. That’s because
even though drinking with friends
is super-fun, we all know what
comes after. You know, the “post-
drinking.”
Well, for a change, there’s
some good news on this front.
Bartenders have been busy
devising ways to help balance
out our drinking — even those of
us with little impulse-control. It’s
called the “shim,” named for that
little leveling wedge, sometimes
called a “spacer,” that carpenters
couldn’t do without.
There’s
no
real
magic
involved. The shim is just a low-
alcohol drink designed to help you
fill a little space and keep things
level. Kind of like the folded over
bar coaster a waiter might use to
balance a wobbly table, except
way more tasty.
Actually, the tastiness is
the real innovation here. Until
now, drinking at a bar has been
a tale of two extremes. Option
A: Order a potent, spirit-forward
cocktail with exciting bitter-sweet
flavour combinations. Option B:
Soda water. The shim offers us
a third option. And, behind door
number three, we discover drinks
made with sherry, vermouth or
port (instead of whisky or gin)
that deliver all the flavour and
complexity say, of a Boulevardier,
but with one-third the alcohol.
08
Dinah Sanders, the San Francisco-based author of The Art of the
Shim, coined the term as it applies to drinking. And, depending on where
you are, you might find shims under a different name. For example, in
Atlanta, a city in which nearly everybody drives, “suppressor” cocktails
(as opposed to accelerators), have a strong following. In Toronto, at
restaurants like La Palma, you might try asking for their Low-ABV (Alcohol
By Volume) options.
“We have a whole spritz section on our menu,” says Alexis Kronwald-
deBruyn, the restaurant’s Operations Manager. “They’re perfect for people
who are driving or having lunch and going back to work. It’s so nice to have
a cocktail and not get sloppy.”
" Bartenders have been busy devising ways to
help balance out our drinking — even those of
us with little impulse-control. "
La Palma, an Italian restaurant, features drinks made with Campari,
Aperol and Cynar bases that clock in at 30 to 50 proof, as opposed to
80-plus proof bourbon. “Everyone knows Aperol,” Alexis says. “But it’s
a nice thing for people who find Aperol too sweet to be introduced to
something like Cynar.”
Indeed. Cynar, an artichoke-based aperitivo from Italy, deserves
more recognition. Light on sugar and only mildly bitter, Cynar is
complex, about 30 proof, approachable and easy-to-use in a cocktail —
a rare combination of talents. It mixes well with sparkling wine, citrus
(especially grapefruit), gin and mint. First-timers should try just mixing
with soda over ice for a no muss, no fuss drink that could easily replace
most people’s late afternoon gin-and-tonic habit.
Although we think of this as an innovation in North American
cocktail culture (where whisky has been king since … umm, forever) in
Europe, low-ABV drinks aren’t exactly news-worthy. There, old-world
day-drinking rituals have always been dominated by aperitifs, vermouths
and fortified wines — straight, on the rocks, or mixed into cocktails.
They don’t even have a special name for suppressors or shims in
Europe. They’re just what you drink at cinq à sept — the space between
work and supper. A space to reflect. A space to hang with friends. A
space to relax and balance things off.
Perfect. If this is grown-up drinking, getting older might not be so
bad after all. Cin-Cin.
The Space Issue
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