F0D4A8A8 0AA1 4C00 B604 DBCEC4E06717

Odd Society Spirits x The Dessert Club

A Sunday Kind of Love~

Gurleen of @pinktealatte fame and I are fans of Sam, the highly acclaimed pastry chef behind @thedessertclubca, so when we heard his latest Popup was Valentine’s Day eve, we booked our tickets for “A Sunday Kind of Love”.

This was a collaboration between The Dessert Club and Odd Society Spirits, held at the latter, who would be mixing cocktails to pair with the desserts prepared by the former. A fun idea in celebration of the season of love. A nice dessert and drink combo after a meal, or a fun way to spend some time in a great setting.

Odd Society Spirits is a small-batch craft distillery in East Vancouver. As taken from their website, “Their goal is to combining old world distilling traditions with new world ingredients and ingenuity to create a family of spirits that entice and intrigue.” With a line up that includes a collection of whiskey, scotches, gin, and vodka. Plus liqueurs like elderflower, creme de cassis, vermouth, and amaro. Odd Society has what it needs to prepare a vast variety of cocktails, which they serve out of the tasting lounge, up front.

Ticket holders of the event had specific time slots to visit, sip and savour; with walk-ins available via first come first serve. Their space is cozy with tables in nooks and high tops in crannies. They are all staggered around the room with their handsome bar adjacent. The decor includes antiques and glass ware that strikes up a conversation. A stuffed pheasant dawning pearls, a duck shaped decanter with the duck’s bill doubling as the spout, candles collecting a base of melted wax, and tumblers shaped oval-ar instead of circular.

By purchasing tickets we were guaranteed our seats when we wanted them, and our visit with them included two chocolates per person, by The Drunken Chocolatier. Each round was prepared using Odd Society Spirits. A Crème de Cassis truffle and one featuring their Commodore single malty whisky and amaro, which is botanical and herbaceous. Each a shot hidden with a chocolate shell. Have them to wet your appetite or as a takeaway, given all the sweets to come.

It felt off to have dessert without dinner, so we began by snacking on some savoury item. From the “A Sunday Kind of Love” menu comes a Cheese & pickled vegetable board. It included an assortment of French cheese: brie triple creme, tomme de savoie and montagne. I enjoyed the rich flavours of the fine cheeses with the crusty baguette slices, and nibbling on the freshness of the house made pickles, but the assembly felt like it was missing something. There was but a dab of quince jelly and it was by far the best part of the platter. There was not enough to go around, and if left me wanting more sweetness to bridge the gap between the sharp cheeses and the super tangy and crisp pickled vegetables.

As a tasting room Odd Society does not prepare food in the back. Instead, they have a curated list of small bites prepared by local restaurants, which they can warm up and churn out, for those who want to eat with their drinking. From this list we ordered the Chicken hand pie from the Pie Hole. This option over other pie options like a spinach & feta, steak & stout, or the vegan Jamaican patty. You could also order mixed olives, a 7 layer dip with chips, and hummus and pita chips from JamJar.

The Chicken hand pie is described as “slow cooked chicken in a creamy sauce with fresh vegetables and herbs, topped with the pie hole’s signature double butter crust”. Sadly, it did not deliver. The pie was incredibly dry and its filling bland. There was not enough or any sauce to fully coat the chicken, as you would expect chicken pot pie to have (which was the inspiration behind this pie). The serving came with a side of grainy mustard, which I didn’t find complimentary. Gurleen wanted ketchup, but there was none to be hand. I would have instead liked an herbed gravy, to better pair with would be comfort flavours.

We would try 3 out of their 4 speciality drinks on the A Sunday Kind of Love menu. Gurleen was gifted with a teaser of the Hanky Panky and shared. Port finish gin, rich Madeira, mia amata amaro, and orange oil. This was a crisp, stiff drink that warms you subtlety within. Taste wise, this is where I land in my preference.

By comparison the other two cocktails were more playful. The French kiss featured Son’s of Vancouver amaretto, mongrel infused with strawberry black tea, vegan milk, lemon, mint, and peychauds. This was best enjoyed starting with the sugared rim sweetening your palette, it helps to balance out the tangy, sour notes that accompanied each sip.

The Love Hotel was definitely the more decorative of the cocktails. Pretty in pink it is a mix of Coconut milk washed port finished gin, sherry amontillado, banana orgeat, lemon, and peach bitters. It drank like a creamy banana and strawberry fruit smoothie, with a tangy liqueur kick at the end. Very unique.

The drinks were intended as pairings for the desserts, but we drank in separation from the food. In opposite order of the drinks above, the following were the 3 desserts available for this one day only Valentine’s Day themed Pop Up. Written and served in order of the lightest to the heaviest dessert.

The first was our favourite dessert of the night. A stunning assembly of flavours and textures, with a little novelty swirled in. The Coconut calamansi cream is blue pea flower tapioca, calamansi sorbet, mango purée, and coconut cream. The pearls are dyed blue with the butterfly pea flower’s colouring. When the calamansi beings to melt, its acidity reacts with the pearls and they transition into purple. I liked everything in this dessert except for the thick coconut shreds. They were far harder in crunch than anything else on the plate, and took away from what would have been a smooth and creamy dessert; one that offered freshness in its us of various fruit.

The Vanilla cashew cheesecake with strawberry compote and pistachio cream was a great option for vegans. However, being a fan of cheesecake and cheese, and not being vegan, I found this rendition to be not my favourite. I am not a fan of grainy when it should be creamy, and there is no hiding the flavour of coconut that enviably becomes a part of any vegan dessert in the replacement of diary. I find it tends to stick out. The generous portions of fragrant pistachio cream and tender strawberry compote on the side definitely swung the dish their way, in a good way. This one looked like a Valentine’s Day dessert.

And the Noir et rougue was the epitome of a Valentine’s Day dessert. The occasion called for a Chocolate cake with chocolate raspberry ganache and raspberry sorbet. A classic pairing and a proper Valentine’s Day cake. The cake was not too sweet, I found its sugar content scaled down, to better pair with the Hanky Panky cocktail above. It was chewy chocolate sponge with lines of chocolate cream, its bitter chocolate offsetting the tartness of the sorbet and berries.

In conclusion, this was a great idea and a fun event. Something responsibly priced to do, for those who want to celebrate the day is some measure.

Odd Society Spirits
1725 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V5L 1H6
(604) 559-6745
oddsocietyspirits.com

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top