Civil Works

Toronto

Playful and profoundly delicious cocktails steeped in Toronto history

Civil Works opened in August 2024 inside Toronto’s restored Waterworks Food Hall with a single, simple belief: cocktails should be more than just a delicious drink. In its view, a great drink should entertain just as much as it satiates, and from that the team behind Toronto bar mainstay Civil Liberties pieced together the new bar’s debut menu: A Manual for Laying Pipe.

The drinks list takes its name from its historic surrounds, given the factory the bar is housed in produced all the pipes that continue to pump water across Toronto. Its tongue-in-cheek double meaning is deliberate, and intended to help guests lighten up, embrace mischief and leave all pretension at the door.

Don’t be fooled by the unserious title: this is a collection of seriously put-together cocktails. The menu is split into different sections, ranging from Pressure Management, a selection of more bubbly concoctions to help relieve stress, to an Executive Lunch martini list. But the house cocktails section is where Civil Works’ magic comes to life.

Each house serve is inspired by an element of the Waterworks building and is accompanied by custom risograph-printed designs and short explanations of its importance. Take the Overhead Tonnage, for example, where the room’s lofty cranes are transformed into a ramos gin fizz variant, supercharged with white chocolate, saffron and orange blossom. The Finished Pipe, the final drink on the narrative list, looks to Thailand’s tom yum soup for inspiration, combining wakame distillate, sake and clarified coconut cream for a sharp and umami-rich concoction.

When it comes to pure hydration, options extend beyond the question of still or sparkling. Through its ‘Works Water’ offering, guests can travel the world through H2O. The Civil Works team takes Toronto’s water, removes all additives and minerals, then remineralises it to mimic various aquas across the globe, whether in the Scottish highlands or the mountains of Japan. Unsure which to order? A water flight is available to pair with spirits.

With an innovative drinks programme inspired by local history, served with a cheeky twist, Civil Works is named the North American regional winner of the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award 2025, as voted for by 50 Best’s global panel of Academy Chairs.

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