Toronto’s True Cocktail Story
Library Bar has been at the centre of Toronto’s cocktail culture for over 50 years. Many lives, many chapters, each one woven together by a team of characters as storied as the drinks they pour.
Since opening, Library Bar has built on its history and reputation to establish itself as one of North America’s leading cocktail destinations, earning recognition both at home and abroad as one of the great bar experiences on the continent.
Drinks as a Story
Storytelling has always been an act of hospitality. Since the earliest expressions of human generosity, food, drink, and stories have been the currency of connection, and at Library Bar, that belief is poured into every glass. Library Bar’s current menu is philosophy in action.
Library Bar’s latest menu pays homage to the bar’s origins. Drawing on the history, people, and celebratory spirit of Library Bar, the team has transformed a charming tale into an illustrated storybook.
Evocative of the works of Wes Anderson and Ludwig Bemelmans, the menu unfolds like a storybook, integrating the bar’s journey as well as hand-painted illustrations and two-page spreads that bring each chapter and cocktail to life. At the heart of the book are the Librarian, based on the gentleman who oversaw Library Bar and its predecessor the Royal York Library, and Hazel, a longtime regular on whose firsthand accounts of Library Bar’s birth were the basis for our new menu. To bridge the past with the present, the illustrations also feature characters drawn from the current bar team. Inspired by people, moments, and even some of the earliest menus from Library Bar’s birth nearly 55 years ago. The menu and story celebrate what Library Bar continues to preserve over thirty years: its revered hospitality, respite, and community.
The Many Cocktails of Library Bar
At Library Bar, the cocktail program has always been an act of translation, converting cultural canon into liquid form, transforming beloved stories into exquisite drinks, and finding in every glass an opportunity to say something worth remembering.
A capital for connoisseurs who appreciate their classics stirred to perfection and daring elixirs that transcend beyond tradition, the program spans more than 50 years of craft and curiosity.
Storytelling, craft, and history have always been at the heart of Library Bar’s beverage program. In our previous menu, LIGHTS, we explored the intersection of cocktail history and a masterpiece of Canadian literature. Our new menu, Opening Night, is a love letter to the people who made Library Bar what it is and an invitation to explore the story of how we came to be. Some drinks have never left the menu. Others arrive as new chapters in an ongoing story. All of them belong to this city.
Characters Love Characters
Personifying the hotel’s lineage, founded in the exuberance of the Roaring Twenties, a broad-stroke Art Deco motif sets the stage for the legacy of vivacious performers who once entertained raucous crowds. Library Bar invites imbibers to lounge, while convivial servers weave throughout the bustle with drinks and bites in tow, ensuring that each guest has their own perfect night.
The Many Lives of Library Bar
Some careers are chosen. James Grant’s chose him. After a successful stint in corporate public relations, Grant found himself in London, drawn inexplicably to a barback shift at a local pub. His natural talent for sharing stories through spirits and his unwavering dedication to hosting guests quickly propelled him to the forefront of the industry. Today, James is one of Canada’s leading voices in cocktail culture.
James returned home to Edmonton, Alberta, where he honed his craft across some of the west’s most celebrated cocktail bars, including Woodwork, Baijiu and Pablo, before taking the helm at Little Hong Kong, a 16-seat speakeasy in Edmonton where he ran the bar from 2018 until 2022. A crucible for his philosophy of hospitality, it was here that Grant developed the belief that would define everything that followed: every guest deserves an experience crafted entirely for them.
That philosophy carried him to the top of his craft. Recognized as World Class Global Bartender of the Year 2021 and Canada’s 100 Best Bartender of the Year 2022, Grant now leads the beverage program at Fairmont Royal York and at Library Bar, where every guest still gets an experience crafted entirely for them.
