Eye of the Tiger

By Jodi Pallagi

Photography by Becky Ip

Cats are connoisseurs of comfort and filled with a magical element we will never truly understand. So when Becky Ip and Ryan Ringer set out to create their own magical gathering space, little did they know that an old, once feral, grey tabby cat named Atari would have so much influence on their business.

Grey Tiger is a laid-back, relaxed cocktail bar in Toronto, Ontario’s burgeoning Bloordale neighbourhood. But it has a little bite as well. Artists in various mediums, both Ip and Ringer were looking for a change of lifestyle and work environment. They had worked for two years straight, day and night, just the two of them. It was exhausting going from cafe in the day to cozy bar at night. A year ago, they had the opportunity to re-evaluate and get back to the heart of what they really wanted; they had to rebirth themselves. It wasn’t just going to be a physical renovation. They were going to celebrate the craft of doing things well, and that’s when they started thinking about the magic.

Ryan Ringer

They wanted to create a space for new romantics that was screen-free, warm and inviting, creative and unique. With more than 20 years professional experience in the service and bartending industry, and with some inspiration from Atari, Grey Tiger was re-born.

Grey Tiger

“It’s like maintaining a spiritual practice in the midst of all that is happening,” says Ip. “And it’s empowering because it gives you a sense of psychic freedom; how you interact with your drink and those around you.”

"This is part of our greater practice, a specific project about people and place making,” says Ringer. “Building a culture through a bar is very interesting conceptually. There are a lot of angles there.”

Grey Tiger’s most unique angle is their custom drink menu, aptly named The Grimoire of Grey Tiger, whose pages are adorned with hand-drawn illustrations by Ip. It’s like handling a deck of tarot cards with explanations for each image. It is a spell book of true magic. Each drink in The Grimoire is concocted by skilled hands and with careful attention to detail. One of these house drinks is particularly customized to the patron.

“Mark of the Bar Witch is a customized drink made after your taste,” says Ringer. “I will start a conversation - how are you feeling, do you like something shaken or something stirred, what flavours do you like, textures. It can be an elaborate conversation or not. I’m very open, I’m in your hands.” And based on that conversation, Ringer will create a custom drink to match your current needs and desires, which can change from night to night.

Grey Tiger boasts a wall decorated with more than 200 labels of spirits and liqueurs, and about 100 whiskeys, which is the focus spirit-wise. There’s an order to everything from orange liqueurs to bittersweet amari, bitters, then gin, and then rum, tequila, brandy, Canadian whisky, rye, Japanese and Irish whisky, Scotch; then the bourbons are organized from sweeter to softer styles to spicier bourbons. There are various wines, beer taps and packaged beer, with the focus mainly Canadian: Ontario and Quebec and smaller breweries, and some brands from other countries. You won’t find a Molson Canadian here. And despite all that choice, Grey Tiger caters to many non-alcohol drinking customers as well. The Grimoire features two specifically virgin creations, Solitary Player and Modern Ritual, plus Mark of the Bar Witch, the custom drink which can also be served sans alcohol. The cocktail wizards serve these drinks with zerotivo, a non-alcoholic amarro (a bittersweet liqueur that they make), and seedlip, a non-alcoholic spirit - a distillate of botanicals. When these flavours touch the tongue, the drink will leave its sipper purring.

MY MOTHER'S SISTER

Hinterland wine whitecap, Giulio Cocchi americano rosa, baiju, zaperol, ginger-lime cordial, bittered sling orange & juniper bitters

Ip and Ringer are constantly impressed by the variety of people that grace the doorstep of Grey Tiger. Like cats that come and go, there is no typical customer and no typical drink.

EL DIABLO

tequila, mezcal, crème de cassis, lime, ginger beer, blueberry bitters

“You set your intentions for the space and you open your doors. You don’t necessarily have control over who comes in and how they interpret the space,” says Ip. “Sometimes it just meshes beautifully and those are people who come back all the time. The energy of the space resonates with them, like this is their space. And other times, people might end up here by chance.” So Grey Tiger delivers the drink to suit. The house drinks are always house creations and the two most popular are Mark of the Bar Witch and State of Public Magic.

HIGH VIBES

Star of Bombay Sapphire gin, IPA liqueur, sunshine shrub, earl grey water kefir, lime, lavender bitters, grapefruit zest

“No matter what time of year it is people will drink a margarita, but in the summer they’re not going to drink a hot toddy,” says Ringer. “There are winter drinks - hot toddy, Irish coffee, nogs or flips. In the summer people want that light, refreshing, easy-going session drink.” Grey Tiger features a weekly rotating “break even bottle”. This gives their patrons the opportunity to try an ounce of regular serve for cost.

“It’s a chance to give people a taste of something they normally wouldn’t get,” says Ringer. “It’s not always top shelf but we choose more interesting things. It’s a fun thing people look forward to.” As their customers tasted and tested, they became more and more curious about the drinks, so Ip and Ringer decided to offer a series of cocktail classes aptly named The Grey Tiger School of Hard Drinks.

“Knowledge sharing is important and it’s really cool to bring people together and pass on this knowledge that, to a lot of people, seems really unattainable,” says Ringer. “A lot of people don’t know what some of the terms are, they’re nervous about what to say or to ask.

LOVE MAGICK

Unpeated highland single malt scotch, cognac, mulled port, organic cream, cherry, vanilla, absinthe bitters

It’s a safe space to come, learn, and then make some drinks at home.” They started with the basics class, then moved on to intermediate classes. Students get the opportunity to learn how to mix two essential cocktails while “soaking up a little liquid history along the way”.

REVERSE THE CURSE

Redbreast whiskey 12yo Irish whiskey, apple-infused shochu, pisco, white port, PX sherry, absinthe bitters

“You are putting your energy into the creation.” says Ip. “People can surprise you. You can’t make assumptions about what you think someone is going to drink.”

INTO THE WOODS

Bourbon, añejo rum, apple liqueur, almond, lemon, aromatic bitters, ginger kombucha

Ringer comments that garnishes will reflect the ingredients in a drink, or sometimes they are purely aesthetic. They don’t go wild with garnishes, and they certainly don’t do umbrellas.

“Garnish can be really wasteful,” he says. “We do our best to be sustainable in the ways that we are able. For me the garnish is actually the glass, a really nice glass. It’s really great to drink out of a nice glass, when you feel the weight, the textures and the shape, and you hold the drink with a nice big block of ice.”

FREEDOM WITCH

Lightly peated single malt scotch, black tea calvados, fermented honey-ginger liqueur, acid-sherry, cranberry, branca menta, crab apple and cranberry bitters

Grey Tiger is like a home for strays looking to belong. The name is after their 15-yearold cat, Atari whom Ip rescued from a feral colony. When Ringer first met them, he had had traumatic cat experiences. He recalls how Atari’s wise old man magic helped him come back around to cats in a healing way.

Ryan Ringer & Becky Ip

When they were renovating, someone had spray painted a large tag on the wall of the stoop they had recently freshly painted, so they were naturally upset. Ip printed out an enlarged sketch of Atari’s face and pasted it over the tag to cover it, then the tagger returned and made Atari’s eyes bleed. So they added lightning bolts to cover up the bleeding eyes and added the third eye. And that eventually turned into their trademark.

“Art is political, and living is politics,” says Ringer. “The craziness of the world, everything being more and more visceral, people trying to connect, to resist, to have hope, to find their magical selves, to bring light to the world - there are difficult times when you have to navigate through. This is what we wanted to build. This is what we want it to be. It is an on-going evolution.” ~

Wednesday to Sunday 6 pm to late, check out Grey Tiger at 1190 Bloor Street West, Toronto. www.greytiger.ca