… and pickles leeks(!) for the Oakville’s Girls Night Out event.  Tipicular Fixin’s Whitney and Trevor have graciously agreed to share their dynamo cocktail recipes here.

Rhubarb Lemonade

1 oz Victoria Gin
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz rhubarb syrup
10 dashes twister & bitter

Place ingredients in a shaker filled with cracked ice. Shake vigorously and strain into your favourite martini glass.

If you’re feeling energetic, Whitney suggests hitting your local farmers’ market for an edible organic flower garnish – and for the rhubarb for your homemade syrup, of course.

Moonstone #3

2 oz Victoria Gin
1/4 oz pickling liquid
1 Tipicular Fixin’s pickled Wild Leek

Place Gin and pickling liquid in a shaker filled with cracked ice.  Shake and strain into a martini glass or coupette. Garnish with a pickled wild leek.

Every cocktail has a story. Trevor shares:

The wild leeks we picked ourselves from a forest on my Aunt’s 100 acre farm in Midland and we then pickled them earlier in the week.  It was a ton of work, but loads of fun.  We garnished our Victoria Gin Classic Martinis with them and the crowd loved it.  Some asked that we add some of the pickle juice to make Dirty/Gibson Martinis and we decided to name it Moonstone #3, Moonstone Road and Line 3 is where the farm is located in Midland, Ontario.

Thanks for sharing your creativity and for making us shine, you two!

Tales of the Cocktail is setting up shop in Vancouver for three days next week.  With the hot action shaking down through the Vancouver cocktail scene, it’s no wonder.  Still, this is huge!

Our twisted & bitter will be there, basking in the creative energies and dashing its way into drinks here and there.

Capital Assets

Combine & shake all ingredients (except ale!) on ice.  Strain into glass with three large ice cubes.  Top with ale & stir.  Garnish with rosemary.

Because we know looking at counter tops makes you want to drink and because we love new friends, Vic Gin is appearing again at the National Home Show in TO…  this time supported by the talents of Trevor Burnett and Whitney Munro of Tipicular Fixin’s and by the lovely Julie Dores.

In case you can’t make it to the Show or in case you want to relive the magic whilst engaged in your pre-spring projects, we’ve provided Whitney’s incredible recipe here.  Another killer tea cocktail.

We’re not the only ones who love Whit, Trev & this cocktail (see lower left)

The Empress

Prep time 30 min. Ready in 3 hrs (or by the time your counter is installed)

1 oz  Victoria Gin
1 oz  orange blossom oolong tea syrup*
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz fresh tangerine juice
10 dashes twisted & bitter
sorrel mist (optional)
sorrel flower garnish (optional)

Prep glassware by misting or rinsing with sorrel tea (see below).

In a large shaker add Gin, tea syrup, lemon & tangerine juice, and bitters. Shake over ice & strain into glass.  Garnish with a sorrel flower.

*orange blossom oolong tea syrup

Yields 2 cups & can be stored in the fridge for several weeks.

2 tsp Herbal Infusions’** orange blossom oolong tea***
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Bring water just below boiling, add tea, remove from heat & steep for 15-20 mins (the duration makes the tea slightly bitter).  Strain tea.  Return to medium heat & add sugar.  Stir until dissolved, cool to room temp & refrigerate for at least an hour.

**Herbal Infusions is a local tea shop & a Tipicular Fixin’s fave.

***As a substitute for the tea, a plain oolong could be used with the zest of 1 large orange & few drops of orange blossom water.

Sorrel flowers can be found fresh around the holidays, but are available all year dried. They can be found at Asian and West Indian grocers and are a member of the Hibiscus family.  The flowers can be bloomed in hot water over night, making a bright red liquid and a perfect mist for the glass.  We used an atomizer but it could just as easily work as a rinse — simply add 1/4 oz to the glass & swirl the liquid in the glass.

Thanks to Whitney, Trevor, and Julie for being so wonderful and to our pals at the Toronto Wine & Spirit Fest, who coordinate the essential Home Show libations and invited us back to the Show this year.

In the October issue of Tidings Mag, Amy Kenny interviews Peter about the family biz and the new culture of spirits (pp. 44-45).  She also shares some of our favourite recipes.  (You can find them here as well.)

Kenny muses that

If the family that plays together stays together, it might stand to reason that the family that works together doesn’t, but that hasn’t been the case…

Indeed it hasn’t!  Perhaps it’s because our ‘work’ so often feels like ‘play’.  (It’s a good thing too, otherwise Peter’d be a ‘dull boy’ for sure.)

Paul the Octopus may have ’spoken’, but nothing’s in the bag for the FIFA final today.  Here are a couple inspired cocktails to help you celebrate… or stage your own face-off.

Chris McDonald of Toronto’s Cava presents a strong player with a sharp cross and excellent mid-palate play.  Steve Da Cruz of Vancouver’s Corner Suite brings you a powerful striker that quickly sets a tempo and paints the pitch orange. You be the ref — or play Paul — for this one.

Catalan 75

~ created by Chris McDonald, Cava Restaurant

1 oz Victoria Gin
1 oz lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
one dash grappa cherry syrup
3 oz Codorníu Cava Clasico

Shake first four ingredients over ice.  Strain into large flute.  Top with Cava and garnish with a lemon twist.

Dutch Old Fashioned

~ created by Steve Da Cruz, Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe

2 oz Victoria Gin
2-3 lumps of unbleached sugar
a few dashes orange twisted & bitter
a few Griottines (primo brandied cherries) * if you use ghetto maraschino cherries instead, you get an automatic red card!

Muddle ingredients and stir together on ice.  Strain over fresh ice.  Garnish with a wheel of orange in the drink.  Rub lemon peel on the rim and dropped in with a cherry.

Anna’s recipe for twisted & bitter Orange Ice Cream is up online.  Check it out here.  Find our bitters at these stores or online.  Ontario stores coming soon.

In preparation for Victoria Day we got busy on a cocktail fit for a Queen… and fit for Adam McDowell, columnist at the National Post.

Imperial Splendour photo by Adam McDowell

Imperial Splendour

1.5 oz. Victoria Gin
2.5 oz. strongly brewed Earl Grey tea, chilled
0.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
0.5 oz. Cointreau
2 dashes Twisted & Bitter orange cocktail bitters

Combine ingredients and shake on ice. Strain into your finest china.  Garnish with an orange slice and a frozen marmalade cube (heat marmalade with equal parts water to dissolve before freezing).

McDowell writes that our Imperial Splendour is:

smooth in texture with a tart and floral nose and nice tea tannins on the palate; it gradually sweetens as the frozen marmalade cube melts.

Not only was the drink featured in the National Post, but also at the First Annual Queen Victoria Lookalike Competition in Toronto — a collaboration between Victoria Spirits and the fabulous Fairmont Royal York Hotel.  (Outrageous photos coming soon!)

Besides hosting the Mission Emp-possible – Battle of the Chefs at the Empress Hotel in Victoria this week, Kevin Brauch also presented the Empress with a new cocktail.

Valerie, Kevin, and the Bengal Indulgence

Named after the swish lounge where we launched Vic Gin in 2008, the Bengal Indulgence mixes spirits, tea, and some of our Twisted & Bitter cocktail bitters.

Bengal Indulgence

designed by Kevin Brauch for the Fairmont Empress Hotel, Feb 2010

1 oz Mission Hill Reserve 2006 Vidal Icewine
1 oz Premium Vodka (Kevin uses Russian Standard)
0.5 oz Cointreau Liqueur
2 oz chilled, 2 hour steeped Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice Tea
2 dashes Twister & Bitter orange bitters
1 dash Fee Bros lemon bitters

Combine ingredients (in order) over ice in cocktail shaker
Stir for 20 revolutions
Strain into chilled 5 oz cocktail glass
Garnish with three (semi-frozen, chilled) cranberries

So, what does Jurgen Gothe put in his whisky?

I know they say you need a drop of water to open it up, but I like a drop of Victoria Spirits’ Twisted & Bitter orange bitters with mine. Open wide and say ahhhh.

Find his Georgia Straight review of the Dalmore 12-Year-Old and Macallan Lalique III here.

Whether you’re playing or watching, Kevin Brauch’s Rinky Drink #3 (aka Daddy’s little cider) is touted as the ultimate drink for the rink!  Kevin uses our bitters in this steamy concoction, which is available at Toronto’s Ceili Cottage and can be enjoyed in their backyard dinky rink. 

Rinky Drink #3

1 oz Navan Vanilla Liqueur
1 oz Sortilege Maple Whisky Liqueur
2 dashes Twisted & Bitter orange bitters
4-6 oz cinnamon infused mulled apple cider (warm)

Garnish with a blood orange wheel and a cinnamon stick