Since 2014, Toronto, Ontario’sย Boxcar Social has excelled at being both a cafe and a wine bar. Known for theirย intensely curated stock of coffees, wines, craft beers, scotches, and whiskies, the ownersโAlex Castellani, Chris Ioannou, Joe Papik, and John Bakerโhave putย considerable time into providing their customers with a unique experience, and their efforts have been rewarded with a dedicated and loyal customer base: since opening in 2014, the group has quicklyย grown to include five spots. Unique among them is Clocktower Bar, a specialty cocktail bar next to the original Boxcar Social in Summerhill.
With a strong businessย in place next door and an expanding vision for the Boxcar Social family, the owners knew that the Summerhill neighbourhood would be a perfect testing ground for their newestย venture. Castellaniย saysย that the opening came down to โa confluence of luck and brazen decision-making,โ with Clocktower Bar taking over the second half of the Victorian-style building Boxcar Social is inย this pastย May. To make Clocktower just as successful as the rest of the Boxcar spots, Castellani and team set out to find individualsย who were just as passionate about cocktails, craft, and service as they themselvesย were about coffee, wine, whiskey, and beer. They found who they were looking for inย head bartenders Ryan Macleod, formerly of Buca,ย and Kyle Hillman, ex of Handlebar, who make all infusions and tinctures in-house (bitters are purchased from outside sources).
Castellani explains that much of the Boxcar Social and Clocktown philosophy hinges on flavour profiles in coffees and cocktails, focusing specifically on the taste of ingredients to enhance the customerโs experience.ย โWe have loved that model for Boxcar because it allows us to easily elaborate on the provenance of those offerings,” he says. Clocktower currently has twoย coffee-infused cocktails with a thirdย in the works (plus two additionalย Boxcar-designed drinks, one starring Earl Grey-infused gin and the other a house-made chai syrup). Castellani worked alongside Macleod to develop the Cold Brew Negroni, which uses an Ethiopia from Phil and Sebastian called Assefa Cheleleketu. The challengeย the pairย faced while working through the recipe was preparing something that didnโt dilute the fresh espresso taste and also preserved the individual taste profile of the Assefa Cheleleketu. โEvery coffee has its own aromatic, flavour, and structural profile that weโve tried to balance out for the final aspects of the drink,”ย Castellani says.
Clocktower isย not the first bar to experiment with the use of coffee in cocktails, but Castellani wants customers to leave feeling as if they got something a little more innovativeย than the usual such offerings. Case in point, the bar’sย Straight Up, which features a Kenya espresso from Berlin’sย Barn Coffee Roasters called Ngunguru AA in the form ofย a tincture, alongside cascara syrup, El Doradoย 5-year-old rum,ย Armagnac,ย Bรฉnรฉdictine,ย Cointreau, and chocolate bitters. Castellani explains that their in-house espresso tincture and cascara syrup areย built to express the character and balance in the beans in the cocktail.
This kindย of balanceโneitherย too sweet nor overpoweringโis struck throughout the coffee cocktails on the menu. “If there’s something we’d like people to take away from our drinks,” says Castellani, “it’s that coffee can be used far outside the boundaries of an Irish coffee and espresso martini.โ
Amanda Scriverย (@amascriver) is a freelance journalist based in Toronto. Read moreย Amanda Scriver on Sprudge.
Photos courtesy of Britney Townsend.
