Over the past century, the vast basement of Vancouver’s Hotel Georgia has been, in turn, a Jazz Age cocktail bar, a sweaty techno club and even a medieval-themed pub. The latest incarnation is, thankfully, a swanky, sexy cocktail bar with serious drinks, food and pedigree. Slick, seemingly simple creations belie the months of development, storytelling and cocktail science applied by beverage director Jeff Savage (formerly of Botanist, Proof). Coloured brush strokes on the cocktail menu pinpoint moods, from Herbaceous (Garden City, consisting of the Prophecy vermouth blend, vibrant Green Chartreuse, snap pea, yuzu koshō, lime and shiso) to Spiritous (Souvenir, unctuous, with its blend of hay and beeswax-washed whisky, Scotch, pasilla chili peppers and smoke). Order a mini cocktail — say, the Microcosm, a strawberry-rhubarb twist on the Cosmo — soak up the Afro House Noir by Kulelé and watch the digital art on the walls move.