How to Elevate the Drinks at Your Next Fancy Party

From high-end spirits and wine to quality glassware and bar tools, these tips will make your drinks the star of the show.

Photo by Steve Collins. Barware supplied by Vine Arts.

A fancy party isn’t an excuse to get tipsy — you’re not throwing a kegger, after all — but wine, cocktails, digestifs and elegant zero-proof options are both social lubricant and, when you pull the good stuff out of the cellar or liquor cabinet, a special gift to your guests, showing them they’re worth it.

 

Channel your inner sommelier

As it’s typically seen as the most serious and complex of all the alcoholic drinks, choosing the right wine for a party can be intimidating, even for hosts with good knowledge and a well-stocked cellar. Brit Hart is an independent wine consultant who offers personal sommelier services through the Harling Food Co., which she runs with her husband, chef Jamie Harling.

Hart will come into hosts’ homes to help plan a wine list for an event, either through “shopping” the client’s cellar or buying wine through a store. She also has some tips for hosts who want to take on the wine themselves. Hart suggests making a trip to one of Calgary’s reputable independent wine shops — The Wine Shop (formerly J. Webb), Kensington Wine Market, Metrovino and Vine Arts are all good places to start — to source selections with approachable, but interesting characteristics. Wine boutique staff can likely also share a few anecdotes about the winery, which can elevate the wine’s status, even if it’s not a particularly expensive bottle. “Having a bit of a story to tell or share about the wine is always going to impress your guests,” Hart says.

Story aside, Hart says some grape varietals are better suited to a well-appointed party.

For an old-school traditional-style cocktail party with a large guest list, choose lighter Old World reds that don’t necessarily have to be enjoyed with food, such as a French pinot noir. As for whites, since varietals like chardonnay and riesling can be divisive and pinot grigio is a tad too ubiquitous, look for a Côtes du Rhône blanc or a viognier. Bubbles are always appropriate: go with a vintage Champagne if it’s in the budget. For a smaller sit-down dinner party, pull out the big guns and offer premium Italian bottles of barolo or brunello, provided they pair well with the food selections.

If your hosting style skews more modern, seek out natural wines, particularly higher-end Canadian varieties from the Okanagan or Ontario’s Prince Edward County, or funky biodynamic bottles from Eastern Europe, which will impress any wine nerds in the house. Hart also recommends stocking up on lower-alcohol piquettes (a fizzy drink made by fermenting the byproducts of wine-making, including skins and stems), as well as non-alcoholic wines, particularly those from Nova Scotia winery Benjamin Bridge, which also makes a line of fantastic alcoholic sparklings.

 

Party spirits

While wine is easy to pour for a crowd, a legendary party host should also have some other premium tipples on hand. When it comes to cocktails, the classics will not lead you astray: drinks like negronis, manhattans and gimlets all have just three ingredients and can be made in large batches, then portioned out, shaken with ice and garnished on demand. For an elegant way to signal the end of a party, there’s nothing like breaking out a digestif. High-end XO Cognacs give a whiff of “high roller” extravagance, or you can go equally old-school (and less pricey) with a good amaro, Armagnac or French orange curaçao.

To make things more modern, go for a slight variation on a traditional cocktail by turning a basic negroni into a Negroni Sbagliato with a splash of prosecco in place of the gin, swapping out the vermouth with amaro in your manhattan to make a black manhattan, or adding a touch of yuzu to your gimlets. In the digestif department, while it’s not exactly new, Fernet-Branca is currently having a moment, and can be enjoyed over ice, or in a simple cocktail such as a Hanky Panky (essentially a negroni with a splash of Fernet in place of the Campari).

 

Dress up your drinks

Part of the ritual of drinking is elegant, premium barware — plastic Solo cups aren’t going to cut it for a luxe holiday event. Locally owned barware company Fifth & Vermouth specializes in sleek cocktail shakers, delicate coupes, Nick and Nora glasses, and other glassware and decanters, as well as specialty bitters and bar syrups. The company sells its merchandise online through bartools.ca and at local stores, including Vine Arts, Lukes Drug Mart, Willow Park Wines & Spirits, and a few other retailers.

If you don’t like what you see there, Cocktail Emporium is a Toronto-based company that supplies a number of local bars with its distinctive glasses and barware. And don’t forget the ice! Local business Frozen Memories sells craft ice in elegant shapes and can even etch initials or a logo into your cubes.

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This article appears in the November 2024 issue of Avenue Calgary.

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