By Rachel Heinrichs and Andrew D’Cruz | Photography by Erin Leydon and Jenna Marie Wakani
Somehow, we’re not sure when exactly, we became inured to $16 cocktails in Toronto. So much so that anything for $10 or less has started to seem like a serious bargain. We scoured the city’s bars and restaurants to bring you 10 Toronto cocktails from the burgeoning booze scene—complete with unusual spirits and house-made syrups and infusions—at prices that will allow you to try more than a couple before heading home.
Done right, with just real peach purée, dry Prosecco and triple sec, as at Strada 241, the bellini evokes lazy August afternoons—not tiara-topped bachelorettes and slushy machines. $9.<br /><br />
<strong>Strada 241,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/restaurants/italian/strada-241/" target="blank">241 Spadina Ave.,</a> 647-351-1200.
Bartender Aja Sax makes nine variations on the manhattan, including our favourite, with Bulleit, Carpano Antica Formula vermouth, Amer Boudreau and Luxardo Maraschino. $10.<br /><br />
<strong>The Miller Tavern,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/restaurants/seafood/miller-tavern-bay/" target="blank">31 Bay St.,</a> 416-366-5544.
Homemade shrubs, syrups and bitters make Quinta’s cocktails a bargain at $10. For this bracing gin smash, Beefeater is muddled with fresh thyme and cranberries, then mixed with cranberry-spice syrup and soda. $10.<br /><br />
<strong>Quinta,</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/scroll/statuses/279254351032242177" target="blank">1282 Dundas St. W.,</a> 416-534-0407.
Like a high-class rum and Coke, this drink combines dark rum, house-made burdock cola—which tastes like a savoury, herbaceous root beer—lime, muddled mint and a spritz of sparkling water. $9.<br /><br />
<strong>Edulis,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/restaurants/bistro/edulis/" target="blank">169 Niagara St.,</a> 416-703-4222.
Farmhouse Tavern’s caesar has so many ingredients it could be an appetizer: tequila, Clamato, Sriracha, lemon, cucumber, caper berries, horseradish and a smoked Malpeque oyster. $10.<br /><br />
<strong>Farmhouse Tavern,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/restaurants/canadian/farmhouse-tavern/" target="blank">1627 Dupont St.,</a> 416-561-9114.
The ever-inventive bartenders at Cold Tea start with gin, Lillet Blanc and sweet yellow Chartreuse, add a little homemade cranberry-rosemary syrup and top the drink with a fragrant flamed rosemary sprig. $10.<br /><br />
<strong>Cold Tea,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/bars-and-clubs/bars/cold-tea-50ad3f75af196/" target="blank">60 Kensington Ave.,</a> 416-546-4536.
This Parkdale aperitivo bar mostly does one thing—variations on the bitter, Campari-laden negroni—and does it well. The Il Professore swaps out the usual sweet vermouth for Cointreau infused with berry tea. $10.<br /><br />
<strong>Bar Salumi,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/bars-and-clubs/bars/bar-salumi/" target="blank">1704 Queen St. W.,</a> 416-588-0100.
Co-owner Jacob Wharton-Shukster gussies up the classic G&T with uncommonly aromatic house-made tonic and soda from Canada’s <a href="http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/06/07/the-last-seltzerman-in-canada/" target="blank">last remaining artisanal seltzerman,</a> before plopping in a huge pink grapefruit wedge on top. $8.<br /><br />
<strong>Chantecler,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/restaurants/canadian/chantecler/" target="blank">1320 Queen St. W.,</a> 416-628-3586.
Delightfully old-school, this cocktail is made from Gaston de Lagrange cognac, lemon oils, lemon juice and Demerara sugar, with a little fresh nutmeg grated on top. $7.<br /><br />
<strong>Sidecar,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/restaurants/italian/sidecar/" target="blank">577 College St.,</a> 416-536-7000.
Purists would scoff at labelling this divine concoction—Jim Bean, Amaro Montenegro, sweet vermouth, sour cherries and walnut bitters—a manhattan. But when it tastes like this, who cares what purists think? $9.<br /><br />
<strong>1602,</strong> <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/guides/bars-and-clubs/bars/1602/" target="blank">1602 Dundas St. W.</a><br />