It’s a predicament that’s bound to hit any burgeoning alcohol aficionado sooner or later: “Where I can score a funky absinthe dispenser complete with ice-blue vintage cordial glasses?” Well, look no further, because BYOB Bar and Cocktail Emporium, Toronto’s only one-stop shop for booze enthusiasts, has arrived, selling anything and everything you need to drink in style.
Owner Kristen Voisey, who began collecting vintage glassware and refurbishing neglected cabinetry into mod mini bars years ago, has since transformed her hobby into a sprawling boutique on downtown Toronto’s golden mile of retail, Queen Street West. She was struck with inspiration after visiting Silver Lake’s Barkeeper in L.A., a self-proclaimed “head-shop” for cocktail enthusiasts.
BYOB currently stocks haute alcohol apparel like flasks, vintage cocktail shakers and mixers, intriguing glassware, Port-a-Pint beer glasses, ashtrays, slick lighters, novelty corkscrews (including the “screwnicorn,” a unicorn’s head proudly gracing the top of a wine opener), Voisey’s one-of-a-kind mini bars and, new this week, brew your own beer kits courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery.
Voisey sources many of her pieces from thrift stores beyond the pillaged inner city Value Villages; places in Barrie or Newmarket that aren’t swarmed daily with vintage hunters and the bargain-obsessed. She also points out pieces from the Maritimes (she’s originally from Newfoundland), as well as from her travels abroad.
Although it may be hard at times to watch prized pieces from her collection walk out the door wrapped in tissue paper, that’s business. At least she’s assured that her pieces will be put to good use: BYOB’s first weekend saw merchandise flying off the shelves, the top seller so far being the aforementioned absinthe dispensing kits. “I was surprised at how much people know about absinthe, and how to drink it,” she says.
If there’s a market for obscure alcohol accessories in this city, then Voisey has tapped it with sleek panache. Stay tuned for BYOB’s collection of bitters and flavoured syrups, which should arrive just in time for summer, as well as a series of cocktail classes with featured mixologists from around the city (her cash desk is designed to moonlight as a bar). Until then, take a trip to BYOB and get inspired.
BYOB Bar and Cocktail Emporium, 972 Queen Street West, 416-858-2932
