New cocktails that appear on the bar scene in Toronto always get drinkers to bend an elbow, but these are the most stunning new creations you absolutely have to try. Pretty as paintings but much better tasting (and intoxicating), when greeted with these newly created cocktails you won’t know whether to pull out your phone or your portable stainless steel straw.

Here are my picks for new cocktails in Toronto you need to try.

The Modern Martini Pairing

Don Alfonso 1890 does the ultimate deconstructed martini if you can afford the $32 price tag, based on your choice of gin or vodka accompanied by pearls of olive oil, lemon, vermouth and scotch that you pop in your mouth to create the sensation of different martini styles. 

Fino Berry    

This cocktail at Seoul Shakers shows off an unlikely pairing that goes down almost too easily: pomegranate and cucumber, with Tio Pepe, Dillon’s gin and lemon rounding it out perfectly.

Baijiu    

Big Trouble sells baijiu (a Chinese grain alcohol) by the bottle, which can mean big trouble for your willpower. It comes in an herbal tea or mangosteen lemon flavour.

Blooming Love    

This flower-garnished cocktail from Blua is made from an unusual but lovely combination of Greek yogurt, apricot jam, peach, lemon and vodka. 

Smoke & Coke

The name of this cocktail is fitting seeing as it’s found at an Entertainment District Argentinian restaurant called Casa Fuego. Smoked cocktails are all the rage lately. This combination of whiskey, vermouth, Mexican coke syrup and oak bitters is presented in a transparent dome.

Velvet Krush

This large format cocktail from Quetzal is so good it’s meant to be shared, a crushed ice concoction of Novo Fogo, Campari, Havana Club, El Dorado, Appleton, cocoa nib, pineapple, sherry honey, lime and coffee.

Pasquale’s Daughter    

Butterfly-pea-flower-infused vodka combined with lemon lends a pretty purple hue to this cocktail of cucumber, Cointreau and simple syrup made even prettier by a cucumber ribbon and Aperol pearls at Bar Altura.

Second Breakfast   

The Hobbit lends inspiration to this cocktail at Casa La Palma made with Earl Grey and jam-like house cordial, plus gin and a Lambrusco “sunrise.”

Labora Cola

This trompe l’oeil at Labora is achieved by carbonating dark amber, Iris Dorado and garnishing with a lemon wheel so it looks like an ordinary Coke, but the truth is much boozier.

Alba

Garrison Creek makes this darling petal-topped drink with a short and sweet ingredient list of aperitivo rosato and rose brut.