Picture crowds of people swooping into cocktail bars, lounges, and restaurants around town, strolling from one to the next savouring tasty cocktails along the way.

That’s what will happen during the B.C. Bar Crawl, an event that’s part of Tales of the Cocktail. From Sunday to Tuesday (March 13 to 15), the cocktail festival will see bartenders, mixologists, and cocktail enthusiasts shake it up at a variety of parties, seminars, and gatherings.

Tales of the Cocktail is a near-fabled event that happens each July in New Orleans and celebrates all things cocktail. When it began nine years ago as a walking tour of city bars and restaurants, it attracted 200 people. Last year’s festival took place over five days, featured 150 events, and drew 18,000 attendees—predominantly bartenders from around the globe, as well as cocktail enthusiasts.

This is the first time the event has gone on tour outside of New Orleans. That says volumes about Vancouver’s place on the international cocktail map. So why, exactly, did festival organizers choose to come to B.C.?

Tales of the Cocktail founder Ann Tuennerman has visited Vancouver several times. On the line from New Orleans, she explains the city’s draw for organizers. “Vancouver’s a great town. There’s a great cocktail culture and a fantastic group of bartenders and restaurateurs that we wanted to work with,” she says. “We have lots of Vancouver attendees at Tales of the Cocktail New Orleans and feel that we have a good base there. Vancouver, although much bigger, [is] a little similar to New Orleans. It’s global, you have a lot of city pride, great culture, and interesting people.

“Vancouver bartenders are very creative in spite of strict liquor laws,” Tuennerman continues. “An unintended consequence of this is, I think, is bartenders are very resourceful. They make a lot of their own things [such as infusions and bitters] to use in their cocktails. They’re very talented and unpretentious,” Tuennerman adds. “I like the warmth of the cocktail community, and they’re great at sharing.”

In October, she made the rounds to more than a dozen establishments, including West, the Cascade Room, Chambar, the Refinery, and the Keefer Bar. “They were all phenomenal,” she enthuses. “One thing I really liked was that each one had its own style and personality. Each had a different look, feel, and philosophy. There wasn’t one that was disappointing in any way.”

A portfolio manager for William Grant & Sons, Charlotte Voisey has visited Vancouver several times. She’s one of the annual presenters at the New Orleans Tales of the Cocktail and will lead a seminar in Vancouver on the History and Importance of Ice in Cocktails. The Straight reached the New York-based bartender by phone and asked her what she thought about Vancouver as a cocktail town.

“In Vancouver, there’s a gastronomical influence. The wonderful cuisine, the freshness of ingredients has crept into cocktails. There’s a definite sense of place. You know you’re in B.C.” when you taste the drinks.

“Vancouver bartenders’ classic style of cocktails really sets them apart,” she continues. “They’re careful not to overcomplicate a cocktail. They put fewer ingredients in; they’re more thoughtful about what each can do.”

The Keefer Bar’s Danielle Tatarin will be attending Tales of the Cocktail, and her establishment is participating in the bar crawl. The president and a founding member of the Canadian Professional Bartenders Association told the Straight by phone that she’s proud of how the city’s cocktail culture has evolved over the last five years. She credits camaraderie among her peers.

“We push each other to be more creative. We have access to fresh ingredients but non-access to many spirits and bitters, which actually helps us to be more creative,” Tatarin says. Vancouver bartenders also travel a lot, which is important because they learn from other bartenders and are able to source ingredients. Tatarin also credits liquor suppliers for helping the city’s cocktail scene, as they educate bartenders about their products and sponsor competitions and overseas travel.

Cameron Bogue is happy to be back in Vancouver, where he’s Earls Restaurants’ beverage director. He’s worked at db Bistro Moderne and some of the top bars on the continent—including several in Las Vegas and Bar Pleiades in New York—and has travelled extensively as Smirnoff’s U.S. cocktail consultant.

“Vancouver is the best city for cocktails,” Bogue says by phone. “Like bartenders in the Pacific Northwest, they’re [Vancouver bartenders are] steeped in tradition but are more creative.”

Working behind the scenes with Tales of the Cocktail’s Tuennerman as local coordinator for the Vancouver festival, Jay Jones (lead bartender at MARKET by Jean-Georges and Barjonesing hospitality consultant) is stoked about the event.

“Tales of the Cocktail has long been regarded as the mecca for bartenders globally,” Jones said by phone. He credits Vancouver’s burgeoning cocktail scene and bartenders’ friendships for attracting the event. “I think it’s really important to the Tales of the Cocktail’s founders because what they value above all is the camaraderie.”

It seems that Vancouver could be one of the coolest spots in North America to quaff a cocktail. Tales of the Cocktail tickets are sold as a package of events ($155 at www.talesofthecocktail.com/tickets) and were nearly sold out at press time. The Bar Crawl is a separate event that’s open to everyone. It happens on Monday (March 14) from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., with participating bars each featuring an $11 cocktail. See Special Events on the website for more information.