About
Kale & Nori co-owner Lauren Mote has been an intricate part of the food and beverage industry for over 11 years. Spanning her knowledge and enthusiasm between Toronto and Vancouver, she has devoted her expertise to Le Select Bistro, Lumiere, Goldfish Pacific Kitchen, Hawksworth Catering and Chow Restaurant. From 2009-2011, Lauren was behind the critically-acclaimed cocktail program at The Refinery, having written over 20 lists, and 240 contemporary cocktails using at least 50% homemade products like bitters and fermented sodas. As a certified Sommelier and award-winning Mixologist, Lauren is able to provide an innovative and unique service for Kale & Nori clients. Being one of the foremost Canadian mixologists, Lauren continues to shape the way Vancouver consumes cocktails. Several of Lauren’s award-winning cocktails are developed using avant-garde mixology, “tasting note” deconstruction, and culinary theory. Lauren is also an accomplished writer, and Director for the CPBA – The Canadian Professional Bartender’s Association (founded 2010).
Press:
Fashion Magazine, Flare Magazine, Flavours Magazine, Imbibe Magazine, Sundance Films, The National Post, US Bartender’s Guild, Food Network Canada, Bar None Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Specialty Food Magazine, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Courier, BC Business, CityFood Magazine, Vancouver Magazine, Scout Magazine, Urban Diner Online, Tiny Bites, Ethnic Eats, Foodists, Timing and Delivery, The Georgia Straight, The Westender, TASTE Magazine, Edible British Columbia, Industry Blender, Sweet Spot, Vitamin Daily, Urban Rush, The BEAT with Kid Carson 94.5 FM, CityTV’s Breakfast Television – Toronto & Vancouver, The David Suzuki Foundation, Tourism Vancouver, Black Book Magazine, Martini Boys, One for the Road, Co-op Radio, BC Chef’s Quarterly, The Toronto Sun, Edible Vancouver, The James Chatto Blog, CityTV, Breakfast Television, 24Hours, The Metro, UrbanRush, Shaw TV, BC Hospitality Foundation, Western Living Magazine, HUSH Magazine
Contributions:
Western Living’s Top 40 Foodies Under 40, 2011; 1st (Nationals), Sundance Films & US Bartender’s Guild Iconoclast Competition, sponsored by Grey Goose, 2010; 2nd, National BarChef Competition, 2010; 2nd, Grey Goose Pourmasters, 2010; 1st, Maker’s Mark Cocktail Competition, 2009; 1st, Grand Marnier “The Next Classic” Cocktail Competition, 2009; 2nd, Sortilege Women’s Cup Competition, 2009; 2nd, Victoria Gin Shakedown Competition, 2009; 3rd, The Craft of Cointreau Competition, 2009; 4th Giffard’s Iron Bartender Competition, 2009
Why I’m called a “mixologist” and a “bartender”:
There are several industry professionals that still want to be called bartenders regardless of how much passion they have. As an individual that has spent several years honing my skills as a classic bartender, my expertise has evolved and developed – so it’s only natural that my title and profession would too. As a bartender “tending the bar” – telling stories, history, classic this and classic that – the impromptu cocktails warrant a spirit type and a page from Britannica encyclopedia – white rum? Cool, let me tell you the tale of Ernest Hemingway (just as a loose example). As a mixologist, my stories have developed – I am trained in classic technique, and will not ever discount its merit – the reason why my cocktails taste balanced is because classic technique and classic cocktails told me so, but I deliver a service now based on food science, flavour profile pairing, ideal extractions, high proof chemistry experiments, complex creations that push the boundaries of what cocktails used to be – that’s how the stories change. Mixing as a chemist or creating as a chef holds more relativity to what I do than just displaying hard to find Amaro on the back bar, and explaining the origin of the “Hanky Panky” cocktail. I happen to be in the unique position to do both.
A couple of cool recipes:
FLORA & FAUNA
To make the “Flora” Cocktail – The term flora comes from Latin language Flora, the goddess of flowers in Roman mythology.
1.00 oz Poppy Seed, Whole Nutmeg & Mustard Seed infused Bombay Sapphire Gin
0.50 oz Bourbon
0.50 oz Lillet
0.50 oz The Refinery’s Lilac Flower Bitters
dash Rose Water
1 tsp Organic Tahini
1 tsp Organic Coconut Cream
0.25 oz Lemon Juice
Nutmeg Salt
Shake all ingredients hard with ice, single strain over fresh ice in Double Old Fahsioned Glass. Rim glass with nutmeg salt. Garnish with burnt lemon.
To make the “Fauna” Cocktail – The name comes from Fauna, a Roman fertility and earth goddess, the Roman god Faunus.
1.00 oz Bay Leaf & White Chanterelle infused Bombay Sapphire Gin
0.50 oz Carpano Punt e Mes
0.50 oz The Refinery’s Delhi Bitters
0.50 oz Lemon Juice
0.75 oz Masala Black Chai & Pu-Erh Tea Syrup
Shake all ingredients hard with ice, single strain over fresh ice in Double Old Fahsioned Glass. Garnish with burnt lemon.
PEARACHUTE
This was my interpretation of another whisky driven classic, the Mint Julep. Roasted Okanagan pear preserves meets mint-stem-infused bourbon, roasted orange & juniper bitters, cane sugar, smashed and fried sage. Not only was this cocktail super aromatic, but an awesome use of the 5 litres of preserves I made at the end of the summer.
2.00 oz mint bourbon
0.50 oz roasted orange & juniper bitters
3.00 wedges lime, cut into small pieces
0.50 oz organic turbinado simple syrup
1.00 sprig fresh mint
2.00 leaves fried sage
Using a muddler and metal shaker, pulverize ice cubes until only tiny pieces remain. In a separate shaker, muddle limes and mint until well smashed. Add the bourbon, bitters and sugar. Shake with pulverized ice, pour out into metal julep cup or old fashioned glass. Top with more pulverized ice, straw and sage leaves.
Sling: contains fruit flavours, usually citrus, with alcohol and water (ice)
Straight Law Cocktail: contains dry sherry and gin
Recipe:
1.00 oz Bombay Sapphire
0.50 oz Fino Sherry
0.50 oz Lillet
0.25 oz Kaffir Lime & White Tea Bitters
0.75 oz Chamomile Flowers Syrup
Shake all ingredients, pour over ice in Old Fashioned Glass.
Garnish:
3 small honeydew melon balls, across a skewer on the top of the cocktail.
Method: Eat one ball at a time, starting in order – after tasting the drink, eat the ball, taste the drink again to experience the palate change, repeat with second, etc.
Compress small honeydew balls with Chamomile syrup.
1) Dust first one in lemon and coriander powder
2) Dust the second one in cassia and guinea pepper powder
3) Dust the third one in juniper and lavender powder
This will bring out the herbaceousness of the gin
Lauren Mote’s Program:
When I design a cocktail, I begin as a “food scientist”. By that I mean that I make “avant-guarde cocktails” through changing the way I use ingredients – like using butternut squash in a vegan cocktail to mimic the same texture as an egg white. Although I dabble, I seldom lock myself in a lab manipulating powders and potions with safety glasses and a fire extinguisher.
Like a scientific method, each cocktail I create is developed according to a precise set of steps. First, I make the bitters. I choose local ingredients that are in season at the time, and then macerate them in super high-proof spirits for four to eight weeks inside large mason jars. Then I experiment with other ingredients to find the ideal taste matches to the central flavour of the bitters. Second, I think about what “concept” or theme I’d like to deconstruct. This can be anything — a liqueur or spirit, a geographic region, a food, or even an object. The third step is the reconstruction of that abstract idea which becomes the physical cocktail. This step itself has three parts. First I create a cocktail based on a classic technique in cocktail making. Then, I make a benefit template (every drink I create makes use of super foods, and other health properties – such as antioxidants, protein, amino acids, potassium, electrolytes, etc.) The finish involves the presentation. Here is where I’m thinking like a chef or an artist, because the end product should be pleasing to the eye, erotic to the nose, velvet and complex on the palate, and super unique. At the Refinery, my team of mixologists and I aim to make our cocktails some of the most creative and interesting you’ve ever tried.
The cocktails that excite me most are the ones that have complete deconstructed tasting notes, and came with a set of instructions on the side. They are the complete manipulation of different properties of their ingredients and spirits. An perfect example is my “Charred Bourbon Sour”. It is the deconstructed tasting note for a Maker’s Mark American Oak Cask, and many of components used in the cocktail are created separately, and balanced together in the end; the Charred American Oak & Caramelized Coconut Syrup, and the House Bitters are examples of this. Another favourite is the “Side Loire” which is a deconstructed “regional” tasting note for the Loire Valley and includes a reduction of Sancerre wine, Cointreau manipulated in five ways, and pure wheat grass extract for its health benefits, and “green” affect that brings out the herbaceous quality in the Cointreau and Sancerre perhaps overlooked in the beginning. There are many more cocktails that fall into this category.
This how I work with cocktails now, but the next big thing will be creating a niche where the demand doesn’t necessarily exist. Bartenders and “mixologosts” need to keep learning, keep teaching, and keep themselves at the highest standards, to make sure they never lose their passion. That idea in your brain that seems to make no sense, and you don’t know if it’s “cool” or not? Ya, that’s the risk you should definitely take. The average consumer of cocktails seldom know what they want but they’ll put their trust in you. The sign of an incredible cocktail is one you haven’t figured out by the time you sip the last ounce.
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