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• 2 cups Victoria Spirits Empress Gin
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 0.75 cup lavender syrup (see note)
• 1.5 tsp orange bitters
• 4 cups dry sparkling wine
Combine ingredients in a large pitcher. Stir gently, then bottle, seal and refrigerate or stash in ice.
Wedding bells will be ringing this spring at Windsor Castle and you are going to need some cocktails to celebrate, too. With this as inspiration, let’s take a glance at some iconic British tipples and learn how to make them.
• 1 oz Odd Society Wallflower Gin
• 1 oz sloe gin
• 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.25 oz honey syrup (see note)
• 0.75 oz pasteurized egg whites
• 3 dashes Bittered Sling Kensington Bitters
• 3 drops rose water
Chill a coupe glass with ice. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Fine strain cocktail into the chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with dehydrated rose petals. Serves 1.
This classic cocktail was created in 1984 by Dick Bradsell, in London.
• 1.5 oz London Dry gin
• 0.75 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 0.5 oz simple syrup (see note)
• 0.5 oz Okanagan Spirits Blackberry Liqueur
Combine gin, lemon and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain over fresh ice in a double old-fashioned glass. Cap cocktail with crushed ice. Drizzle blackberry liqueur over the top of the cocktail. Garnish with fresh organic blackberries. Serves 1.
• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz Cointreau
• 1 oz Cocchi Americano
• 1 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 dash Taboo Absinthe
Chill a Nick & Nora glass with ice. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Fine strain cocktail into the chilled cocktail glass. Serves 1.
• 1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
• 1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino (or other sweet vermouth)
• 2 dashes Fernet Branca
Chill a coupe glass with water and ice. In a mixing glass, add ingredients with ice and stir gently for about 20 seconds. Strain into the coupe and garnish with a slice of orange peel. Serves 1.
The holiday season cries out for festive bubbles, for brunch-time mimosas and kir royales, for corks flying at midnight, for French 75s and Champagne cocktails just about any time.
But of all the bubbly concoctions, there is no more festive fizz than a grand Champagne punch.
2 cups (500 mL) brandy
16 dashes Angostura bitters
½ to ¾ cup (125 to 180 mL) oleo saccharum (see method below)
2 bottles sparkling wine such as cava or Champagne
I’ve always loved apples — in pies and crumbles, roasted with pork — there is no end to the versatility of this beautiful local fruit. As a cocktail maker, apples play a major role in my creations. Our B.C. apples are bountiful, and we produce so many varietals to choose from. As the cool, crisp breezes of fall begin, apples automatically become a focus at my professional bar, but they are perfect to incorporate into drinks at home. Here are four recipes to get you started, but feel free to experiment with different varieties of apples, in different forms. Your house guests will be happy, I guarantee it.
INGREDIENTS:
1 oz blanco tequila
0.5 oz Galliano vanilla liqueur
3 dashes Angostura bitters
4 oz dry hard cider
Apple slices for garnish
METHOD:
Fill a Collins glass with ice, then add all ingredients in order (except garnish) and stir. Top with more ice and a splash of cider, and garnish with fresh apple slices.