10 Victoria bars to grab a winter cocktail

As the temperatures start to drop and the winds start to pick up, put on your coziest knitted sweater and head down to your local cocktail bar to warm up. This is the time of year for those nostalgic winter flavours like orange, maple, chocolate, and almond. We have rounded up the cocktails that most invoke the feeling of going for a wintery walk, sitting by the fire, and getting lost in a novel. 

Citrus & Cane 

Citrus & Cane’s current feature is an almost vegan boozy eggnog called Kenny Noggins– complete with rum, sweet vermouth, amaretto, and falernum. Not an eggnog fan? Try Grape Escape, an old fashioned with flavours of toasted coconut. 

Address: 1900 Douglas St., Victoria
Hours: Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 6-11pm; Friday and Saturday, 5-11pm

Pagliacci’s

Besides delicious Italian dishes, Pagliacci's serves up truly scrumptious cocktails. Warm up as the weather cools down with Pagliacci’s Coffee—made with brandy, crème de cacao, dry curaçao and topped with whipped cream. Alternatively, try its Ginger Baker– with rum, orgeat, ginger beer, and lime.   

Address: 1011 Broad St., Victoria 
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11:30am-10pm; Friday and Saturday, 11:30am-11pm; Sunday, 10am-10pm

Wind Cries Mary

Wind Cries Mary has created a cocktail menu inspired by local landmarks. Get a taste for Victoria’s forests with Woodworker, a woody cocktail with blackberry ryeshine, bourbon, maple, birch, and cedar. Or, try its Hunt & Gather—made with mezcal, rosso, Jagermeister, coffee, and hazelnut.    

Address: 45 Bastion Square, Victoria 
Hours: Monday-Sunday, 4pm-1am

Bodega

Bodega has an unmatched sherry selection which is featured in several of its cocktails. Try John, I Love You– made with both fino sherry and medium dry sherry as well as pear liqueur and nutmeg. Not a fan of sherry? Try Feel So Different—with mezcal, triple sec, hibiscus, and chocolate and walnut bitters.    

Address: 1210 Broad St., Victoria 
Hours: Monday-Wednesday, noon-9pm; Thursday, noon-10pm; Friday and Saturday, noon-11pm; Sunday, noon-8pm

Humboldt Bar

Humboldt Bar has the perfect cozy atmosphere for a wintery cocktail. It has fitting cocktails to match like Republic of Letters—made with Irish whisky, benedictine, old letter bitters, and candle wax. Or, try Cyanometer—an aqua-coloured cocktail made with raincoast gin, pisco, and oolong.     

Address: 722 Humboldt St., Victoria 
Hours: Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 6pm-midnight; Friday and Saturday, 6pm-1am

E:Ne Raw Food and Sake Bar

E:Ne Raw Food and Sake Bar is the spot to grab sake-based cocktails like Tokyo Minute—made with lavender plum sake, rosso, maraschino, and lavender bitters. Alternatively, try a wintery take on a traditional cocktail, like its Smoked Toki Old Fashion with hinoki bitters.    

Address: 737 Pandora Ave., Victoria 
Hours: Monday-Sunday, 3pm-midnight

Cenote

Cenote serves up cocktails with classic winter flavours like its Sad Bastard Music—made with pineapple run, amaretto, spiced orange syrup, and cardamom bitters. Alternatively, try its Thanks for the Dance with gin, falernum, orange blossom, and smoked pear bitters.  

Address: 768 Yates St., Victoria 
Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 5pm-midnight; Friday and Saturday, 5pm-1am

End Dive

End Dive has on offer some delicious winter cocktails like There’s a Story to This Moral—made with blackberry cedar vermouth, balsamic black currant, and citrus sherbert—as well as Damaged Goods, a spiced honeyshine-based cocktail with bitter orange, raspberry liqueur, and mia amata amaro. 

Address: 1802 Government St., Victoria 
Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, 4:30-9:30pm; Friday, 4:30-11pm

Little Jumbo

Little Jumbo has a cozy marshmallow cocktail currently on offer called Roasty Toasty that is made with kazuki gin, aperol, yuzu sake, lemon, and toasted meringue. Alternatively, try Old Monty, a mezcal-based cocktail with amaro, coffee liqueur, and chocolate bitters. 

Address: Down the Hall, 506 Fort St. #102, Victoria 
Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 5-10pm; Friday and Saturday, 5-11pm

Block Kitchen and Bar

Head down to Block Kitchen and Bar and try The Last Samurai, a gin-based cocktail with chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, yuzu sake, and matcha orgeat. Alternatively, try its whisky-based Old Fuji—made with umami bitters, genmaicha tea, white peach, and chrysanthemum. 

Address: 538 Yates St. #101, Victoria
Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 3-9pm; Friday and Saturday, 3-10pm