Bookworms unite! These two bars have brought cocktails with a literary spin to the GTA. Poetry nights paired with fab drinks and urban crowds make these bars Wordsworth-friendly.
Belljar Cafe |
vs. |
Famous Last Words |
| Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. The book inspired me to open a creative hub where people could grow. I also played in a band when I was younger, called the Belle Jars (the beautiful jars). |
What’s behind the theme? |
The bar’s namesake is Timothy Findley’s Famous Last Words. I’ve been a giant book nerd my entire life, and I love cocktails, so I decided that the two things go together better than anyone might have suspected. |
| The Bukowski, which features bourbon, lemon, cherry and rum. And it is an amalgamation of all of Bukowski’s books in one drink. He was a professional drinker, so it’s a strong drink but pretty smooth, and it goes down quite nice. |
Any drinks named after authors? | All of our drinks are named after some of my very favourite books such as our Hotel New Hampshire drink, named after John Irving’s novel. The drink features blueberry balsamic shrub, lemon, vodka and sherry. |
| We have our Sylvia Plath/Rrrriot Grrrl night about once a month where we have different bands, DJs and zines that come in. We have poetry-reading nights every third Monday of each month. |
Do you hold events for bookworms? | We have a book club promotion where people can bring clubs of four people or more any week night we’re open. For every group that comes in, we will donate $20 to Frontier College’s literacy charity and create a custom themed cocktail for the group. We also host local authors launching new books. |
| Allen Ginsberg, for his radical longevity. Kerouac was just too handsome. | Allen Ginsberg or Jack Kerouac? |
Kerouac. Mainly because I quoted passages from On the Road back in high school thinking it made me sound worldly (which I most definitely was not). |
