| FRESH FACE 09.17.08 9:00 AM |
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| Kindred Spirits |
| Two bartenders team up to provide custom cocktails—and a bit of history—at events. |
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Sue Ketcheson (left) and Christine Sismondo specialize in interactive, handcrafted cocktail stations.
Photo: May Truong for BizBash
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Teaming Up: Bar industry veterans Sue Ketcheson and Christine Sismondo know their facts when it comes to cocktails. Sismondo authored the reference book Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History, and Ketcheson concocts and sells her own syrups and mixes. The friends decided to combine their expertise—and love of a well-made drink—earlier this year by starting a cocktail catering and consulting company called Slake, as in, slake your thirst. “There are only so many things you can do with wine and beer, but you can really customize cocktails to get them to reflect the theme of an event,” says Sismondo. The company’s services include creating signature drinks, stocking and designing bars, and dropping off and picking up liquor at events.
Bar Background: The pair met in 1995 while working at the Annex neighbourhood pub Kilgour’s. Ketcheson moved on to bartending jobs at both Alice Fazooli’s and the Beaver, while Sismondo turned to writing, designing drinks for stories in The Toronto Star and at the New Orleans-based Tales of the Cocktail conference. After several staff members at the Toronto-based graphic design company Artwords read her book, they asked Sismondo if she could make drinks for their Christmas party last year. Calling on Ketcheson for help, she featured a different drink every hour of the party, including mojitos, sidecars, and even a shot made from the chocolate fountain at the dessert table. “It was the best Christmas party we’ve had, and they were a big part of that,” said Vern Walters, co-owner of Artwords. “It’s a unique thing to do cocktails—they’re a lot of fun and they’re a novelty.” The party motivated Ketcheson and Sismondo to start Slake, and they’ve since created drinks for parties at the Beaver, and are designing cocktails for the September re-launch of the food news Web site Gremolata.
New Flavours: Sismondo says Ketcheson has an “intuitive sense” with ingredients. The two like to mix drinks with more unusual components like homemade ancho chile and hibiscus syrups, açaí berries, and infused liquors, and they prefer to cater events up to 100 people so they can provide guests with the histories and traditions behind certain cocktails. Sismondo references the Moscow Mule, a popular concoction of ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice that was falsely rumoured to be a communist drink in the 1950s, and the Corpse Reviver, originally served as a breakfast drink, as interesting examples to serve and explain to guests. “What distinguishes us is that we’re willing to provide more education and create an experience,” she says.
—Erin Letson
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