The Derrick Gin Mill & Kitchen

When a space came available next to the historic Barron Building in downtown Calgary, Nathan Newman saw the perfect opportunity to open a working man’s cocktail bar. He wanted to pay homage to Calgary’s early years as an oil and gas city and he wanted gin to be the star of the cocktail menu. So in October 2015 Nathan opened The Derrick Gin Mill & Kitchen as Calgary's first gin-specific cocktail bar.

“There’s a real nod to Calgary’s humble beginnings. It’s rustic and we’ve got oil and gas memorabilia throughout the whole place,” Nathan says. “It was meant to be my vision of a dive bar, which it’s clearly not. We put a focus on gin without having any intentions or knowing that gin was going to be the spirit that it’s become.”

With its roots so entrenched in the oil and gas industry it was important to bring some history into The Derrick with the addition of authentic old oil and gas memorabilia. Thanks to some connections out in Fort Macleod, Nathan was able to accumulate artifacts and photographs from the bygone days of Calgary’s first oil booms. “There’s all sorts of authentic pictures of real events that happened and there’s actual certificates on the wall of shares of oil and gas companies that did start in Calgary,” Nathan says. One of the most memorable pieces on display, a massive Red Crown Oil (which is now Imperial Oil) pump from more than 100 years ago, is situated just beside the space's entrance, kitty corner to decorative wall shelves with different sized oil cans and canisters. Nathan also came into a few pieces of taxidermy, including a massive bison head found behind the bar area.