Civil Works couldn’t be more different from the team’s original award-winning bar, Civil Liberties, for one major reason: It has a menu. Liberties is bespoke only, while Works focuses on ambitious, impressive and heavily conceptual cocktail lists. The current iteration, On Cutting Rug, weaves through the history of Toronto’s Garment District. Drinks like the Toronto Purchase (Lot 40 Rye, Granny Smith apple, evergreen and carbonated maple) and Needle/Thread (a gin Martini with pineapple, smoked sweet onion and black-pepper oil) are paired with historical narratives — wars, labour and civil rights movements, immigration patterns and the city’s Pride festival. The physical menu is printed on a fabric-swatch book, with samples sourced from Affordable Textiles up the road. Big concepts don’t subdue the spirit of adventure or the mad-scientist experiments (try the craft-cocktail Jell-O shots).
The swish, sunlit backbar.
The swish, sunlit backbar.
Try
The Wedding Ward — a floral, juicy spritz made with sake, aromatized wine, grape, jasmine and bay leaf. It’s a nod to the year 1817, when several lively weddings were reported, one of the earliest records of Torontonians cutting a rug, so to speak.
Come for
Experiences like a guided water tasting, which demonstrates how different waters impact the taste of top-shelf whisky.
Day drinking
In summer months, the bar’s Civil Parks patio pop-up serves Clarified Caesars, Coladas and Margaritas alfresco.
Photography by Ava Dor (drinks), Hector Vasquez (interior, exterior), Daniel Neuhaus (water)
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