Barnett on Business Travel

The Boiler House sounds like a hot, steamy pipe works festooned with valves and gauges. Might have been a century ago. Today, the 167-year-old, weathered brick building in Toronto that spent most of its life as the Gooderham & Worts rye whisky distillery, is a dark, high-energy, sexy saloon and restaurant lit with flickering candles. It could pass as a gothic Victorian monastery minus the monks.

Once the largest whisky distillery in the British Empire, The Boiler House (55 Mill St.; 416-203-2121; www.boilerhouse.com) wisely didn't hire a decorator to gut its history and tart it up for the free-spending 20somethings and clubbers. The craggy timber-beam ceiling with subdued lighting rises 22 feet above a 60-foot bar topped with reclaimed pine that sits, imaginatively, on a polished gray concrete base.

Behind the bar is a reproduction of a massive rack for aging whisky barrels. It now holds wine bottles and runs the length of the bar and reaches the ceiling.

Opposite the bar are three stand-up "cruisers," tables for four to sip and chat. Want privacy? Six cozy partitioned tables for two, called "cubbies," separate the bar from the restaurant. And while the Boiler House isn't a sports bar with a blaring television, all the wood doesn't soak up the sound and the decibels rise on a busy night.

The Boiler House, located in the 14-acre Distillery District a few minutes from downtown, is cavernous but not cold. The 30 slim, steel barstools made in Italy are a counterpoint with the aged maples, pines, granite and exposed-brick walls. I'd call the design a rustic twist on industrial chic. The patrons, mostly 35 to 50-plus Canadians, are warm, conversational elbow-benders. Toronto locals and visitors mix well.

Walking in the front door whets your appetite and head bartender John Humphrey has plenty of ways to slake it. Dressed like all his barkeeps, in black shirts and pants, he is a devotee of classic cocktails: the Sidecar, Negroni, Old Fashions, etc. Some, though, exhibit his personal touch. Humphrey's Bourbon Sour has a quarter-ounce of fresh, black cherry juice. His Kiwi martini starts with muddled cucumbers and is filled to the brim with Skyy vodka. All classics are $12 Canadian, which is on a par with the U.S. greenback these days.

A half dozen other house cocktails are even more creative — and lower priced. Check out the Nashani, made of Hendricks Gin, green tea and diced strawberries, or the Chicky-Chicky Chow-Chow, a blend of Grey Goose Orange Vodka, fresh watermelon and mint and a splash of cranberry juice. All are $10.

"Canadian drinking habits are very similar to Americans,'" contends Humphrey.

"We pour a lot of single-malt Scotch, good bourbon and artisan beers." Indeed, the bar menu lists the locally brewed but Belgian inspired Sleeman on draught. The "light" version has a citrus aroma, the Honey Brown is a lager with a touch of natural honey. The draughts are $6.50 a pint. An international collection of beers included 750-mililiter bottles of intensely flavored (spicy, smoky) triple-fermented specialty beers that fetch $18 each. That's an expensive excursion into the world of hops and barley, but well worth it.

Humphrey stocks and pours Gibson's Finest 12-year-old super-smooth Canadian rye whisky, which the barman touts as the premium rye today. (A Canadian rye — Seagram's VO, Canadian Club, Seagram's Crown Royal — is ultra smooth because it's a blend of less than 51 percent mash whisky. (An American rye whiskey, like Old Overholt or Jim Beam, is higher than 51 percent mash and harsher.)

However, the unofficial national drink of Canada is the spicy Bloody Caesar, a tastier version of the venerable Bloody Mary, made with Clamatto juice instead of tomato juice, $7. Seems Canadians drink them all hours of the day. For lovers of the fermented grape, Boiler House has a wine-by-the-glass list that is pricy, whether trading in Canadian or American dollars.

Example: a 2005 Kendall Jackson Cabernet Sauvignon is $8 for a 3-ounce pour, $13 for a glass and $45 for a half-liter. French, Australian, Italian and California wines dominate the full wine list, but some Canadian wines have made the cut. Food, from tapas to anything on the dinner menu, is served at the bar.

The original Boiler House, no doubt, had it's own symphonic sounds when the whisky was cooking. But its namesake saloon today has live jazz and R&B music 7-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and a Sunday jazz brunch, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. No cover charge is levied, and the musicians range from a solo guitarist to a seven-piece band.

Toronto is a major film and television filming location and cast and crewmembers often gravitate toward the Distillery District. Dustin Hoffman, Woody Harrelson and British director Guy Ritchie, Madonna's ex, have all dropped in for rest and relaxation. Women can sit at the bar as a single, or with a friend, and Humphrey and his fellow mixologists make sure unwanted suitors get the message.

Some etiquette should be observed when Americans share a drink with a Canadian, counsels Jason Rosso, the Boiler House operations director. "Do not make fun of Canadians every time we say 'eh' or 'boot' and 'aboot.'" But whisky bootlegging isn't off the record.

Rosso says the distillery worked straight through Prohibition and catacombs ran underneath the buildings, most likely to funnel the hooch across the border. Rosso is more discreet: "I wouldn't doubt the place was 'serving' whisky and rum runners to the states.

Chris Barnett writes on business travel strategies that save time, money and stress. Reach him at cbarn@aol.com. To find out more about Chris Barnett and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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