Fewer smartphones, more vinyl, and a crafted cocktail meant to be lingered over: that is the philosophy behind Sample, a new Montreal bar built around two obsessions, hi-fi sound and highballs. Its pedigree is equally twofold. On one side is the team behind The Coldroom; on the other, Modibo Keita, a curator for the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
It is a formidable foundation for what might otherwise sound like a provocation. “At Sample, music comes before everything else — the sound, the records, the curation, the atmosphere in the room,” says Jama Joachim, the Bar Manager and Partner.
Sample, the Montreal Cocktail Bar Bringing Hi-Fi and Highballs Together
That does not mean the drinks are an afterthought. Rather, the idea is to build a menu that steers clear of the kind of pyrotechnic experimentation designed to make the cocktail itself the evening’s main event.
Enter the highball, one of the cocktail world’s oldest and most enduring formats, prized for its deceptive simplicity and freshness: a spirit, a carbonated nonalcoholic mixer and pristine ice. Behind that apparent ease lies exacting work, from temperature and dilution to proportions and technique — the kind of technical rigor that has increasingly become the benchmark for serious highball programs around the world.
Music Comes First
With a drinks program worthy of a leading cocktail bar in place, the Sample team could turn its attention to what mattered most to them: creating a listening bar that encourages guests to slow down, put away their phones, look around the room and settle into an unhurried conversation with the people sitting beside them. Above all, to actually listen to the music. “The point is to be present,” Joachim says. “We want people to be here with us — to connect, create, talk, listen and appreciate the moment instead of rushing through the evening and the night.”
Modibo Keita and the Art of Curation
An expensive sound system only goes so far if what comes through the speakers fails to live up to it. That is where Modibo Keita enters the picture. A trombonist, composer, educator and curator for the acclaimed Montreal International Jazz Festival, Keita oversees the bar’s vinyl selection, giving its musical identity both cultural depth and an international perspective.
At Sample, the soundtrack is intended to do more than fill the room. It sets the pace of the evening, creates space for guests to unwind and, ideally, helps spark connections between them. It is an ambitious brief for a playlist — and precisely the point.
Beyond Sample
Sample is the latest addition to entrepreneur Kevin Demers’ Northern Hospitality Group, whose Montreal cocktail portfolio has developed a distinct identity of its own. There is the late-night speakeasy The Coldroom; the diminutive, 13-square-meter El Pequeño Bar, devoted largely to rum drinks; Bisou Bisou, shaped around a Mediterranean approach to aperitivo; and Bar Bello, an ode to Italy.
Images courtesy of Northern Hospitality Group
