Kate Boushel

Barocco Group

Canada's cocktail matriarch

Growing up, Kate Boushel thought she’d be a politician, not a bartender. After first dipping her toes part-time in the world of hospitality in her teens, academic pursuits saw her leave the sector behind for a career in politics and PR, before she found herself re-immersed in hospitality and her true calling behind the stick.

After spending a few years working at bars and restaurants across Montreal taking part in drinks competitions in her spare time, she joined Atwater Cocktail Club as a bartender for its launch in 2016. Two years later, she was the director of beverage and education for the whole Barocco Group – the organisation behind the lauded bar alongside five other venues in Montreal.

Boushel is widely recognised as one of the country’s most beloved, forward-thinking bartenders. Learnings from her time in politics and PR have helped her shape a modern face of hospitality that represents and serves everyone, not just those in front of the bar. At Barocco Group, she’s implemented systems and changes to try to ensure a better work-life balance for her staff. Outside of her own bars, she still frequently lends her hand to advocacy programmes uplifting underrepresented communities across North America.

Throughout her life, Boushel has made it her mission to elevate everything she touches. With a storied career behind her, her efforts to create a better, friendlier hospitality industry for all are well documented. As a standard bearer of modern mixology, flying the colours high for Canada’s burgeoning bar scene, she is duly crowned the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award winner for 2024.

Now read the article and watch the video with Boushel here:

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