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

You can now buy our bitters right here, right now!
…………………………...…..Go on, get bitter (not angry):

Alexandra Gill celebrates the art and history of bitters — the salt and pepper of the cocktail — in her recent Globe & Mail article.

Lauren Mote mixes a Sake Sour, photo by Laura Leyshon for the Globe

As well as bringing attention to our new Twisted & Bitter cocktail bitters, Alexandra celebrates the mouth-watering work of our friends Frankie Solarik, who launched with us in Toronto, and Lauren Mote, who was a runner-up in our 2009 Vancouver cocktail competition.

She writes that

bitters are making a comeback. With the revival of classic cocktails, there’s a growing breed of modern mixologist who looks back to that golden age for inspiration.

We posted some of our classic bitters-spiked cocktails here.

And for you bitters-starved cocktail fiends who aren’t in Victoria or can’t make it to Frankie’s Barchef or Lauren’s Refinery, check this out: We’re going to be selling through this site soon!  Check back in a week or so.

Still recovering from an overdose of holiday cheer?  May we suggest some medicinal tonic for your health?

Our Twisted & Bitter cocktail bitters are available at our Tasting Room and may just cure what ails you.

In her November article, Joanne Sasvari highlighted many benefits of these curative tonics and a number of soothing options.

Twisted & Bitter was also included in Jurgen Gothe’s best of 2009.  In his Georgia Straight article, Jurgen writes that our

Orange bitters have an edge on, say, Angostura: while still abundantly bitter, there’s a flavourful orange aspect that works wonders in cocktails. … An excellent addition to your 2010 liquor cabinet.

Peter is also working on other flavours.  Stay tuned for those and for wider distribution.

And who’s that on the label?  Our Toronto launch darling!  If you want to stare more deeply into those “twisted” eyes, check out our fabulous Miss Conception here or at Woody’s in Toronto, where she has been known to work wonders herself, as host of the “best chest” contest.  Whoa!

Cocktail bitters, a staple in the original cocktail and long sought after by deprived mixologists in Canada, are making a comeback.

Joanne Sasvari of the Vancouver Sun highlights the options, and some of the best, including Peter’s lip smacking Twisted & Bitter cocktail bitters presented at the Art of the Cocktail event last week. Read her article here.

Our bitters will be available at our Tasting Room come mid-December and at your grocery store in the future.

Peter getting Twisted & Bitter, Photo by Joanne Sasvari

So what did an original bitters-spiked 19th century cocktail look like?

The pre-prohibition martini mixed gin with sweet vermouth — a surprise to many martini lovers.  Not too long after the availability of sweet vermouth, a dry French vermouth was introduced. Now people could order their martinis ‘dry’.  This didn’t mean less vermouth, it meant using dry vermouth instead.

If you want a real martini try the recipes below. And remember to stir not shake.

Pre-Prohibition Martini

1 oz Victoria Gin
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
dash of orange bitters
Stir with ice, strain & garnish with a Marachino cherry.

The Classic Martini

1 1/2 oz Victoria Gin
1/2 oz Noilly Prat vermouth
dash of orange bitters
Stir with ice, strain & garnish with lemon twist.