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Drinks Food & Drink

The Mojo Hannah

Where: Churchill, 1212 Dundas West, at Dovercourt, 416-588-4900

How: 11/3 oz Herradura Reposado tequila, 2/3 oz Amaro Nonino, 1/3 oz Aperol, 1/3 oz Campari. Shake on ice, serve straight up with a grapefruit twist.

How much: $14

The experience: I would probably pay $14 for lukewarm Yop poured into a toothbrush glass if it were served by Sandy De Almeida. But more often than not this dynamic on-the-rocks star will be making you some of Toronto’s most thoughtfully creative and seriously delicious drinks.

Case in point, the Mojo Hannah, named after the song by Betty Harris. (De Almeida hosts a soul night on the first Sunday of the month at Churchill.) It’s a variant on a variant, indicating De Almeida’s experimental bent.

Because she bases her permutations on classic techniques and a thorough understanding of traditional ingredients, the drink reads like a standard. The Mojo is sweet, but with a radical herbal edge and an intensity that is typically De Almeidan. It’s also flavoured by a full “sheet” of shimmering grapefruit oil that De Almeida rains down the drink’s surface. She is to the twist what Chubby Checker was to the, uh, Twist. She’s only at Churchill Sundays. Thursdays she does her thing at Unit, Fridays and Saturdays it’s more basic drinks-slinging at the Gladstone.

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