Queen Victoria with Empress Gin

Last week I had the opportunity to go on my first industry trip to Victoria, British Columbia, sponsored by Empress 1908 Gin. We stayed at the historic Fairmont Empress Hotel, which was the inspiration for the gin's creation. They really spoiled us. We had beautiful rooms at the Empress, a whale watching trip, a morning at the spa, a champagne tea, and two lovely dinners. And of course we visited Victoria Distillers, where Empress 1908 is made. It's a gorgeous distillery, with large windows looking out over the Salish Sea. They make a number of spirits there, including two other gins that are locally quite popular. But Empress 1908 has been their most popular product by far, and it's easy to see why.

I think it's safe to say that Empress is one of the most unique gins out there. You may have already noticed it on a liquor store shelf or in Instagram photos. Among an array of clear gins, its deep indigo color is hard to miss. But Victoria Distillers didn't set out to make a purple gin. They wanted to make a limited-edition gin to celebrate the renovation of the Empress Hotel (named for Queen Victoria, Empress of India). The Empress is famous for their tea, so the distillers turned to the tea menu for inspiration. They chose the Empress Blend black tea to infuse the gin, but they were also inspired by a tea blend called "Blue Suede Shoes" that contained butterfly pea flowers and was, as the name suggests, blue. So they added the flowers to the gin as well, giving it a gorgeous purple hue.

When Victoria Distillers started experimenting with Empress 1908 in cocktails, they discovered what drinkers of butterfly pea tea had already known for some time - that with the infusion of the flowers, the gin actually changes color when an acid like lemon juice is added, from bluish to pinkish. It's magical and fun, and definitely the thing that attracts most people to Empress. But it's also an excellent gin, with a style between a typical London Dry and an American gin with notes of juniper, tea, and grapefruit. If you think you're not a gin person, this lovely bottle might change your mind.

I had several great cocktails made with Empress 1908 while in Victoria. It's fantastic in a Bee's Knees or a French 75. When you make a Negroni Bianco with it, it keeps its bluish purple color, while a traditional Negroni comes out a deep garnet red even prettier than its usual bright crimson. One favorite was a Gin Smash made with mint and lavender from the Fairmont Empress' rooftop gardens. And of course we had lots of gin and tonics. Empress recommends Fever Tree tonic and a slice of grapefruit for garnish.

For my first cocktail made at home with the Empress, I knew I wanted to use eggwhites because the purple color looks so good with that layer of foam. I decided to double down on all things purple by adding a lavender simple syrup and bit of Creme de Violette to a traditional gin sour. The result is a colorful, floral drink pretty enough to do justice to this wonderful gin. Thank you again to Empress 1908 for having me in Victoria!

Queen Victoria

2 oz. Empress 1908 Gin
1/4 oz. Creme de Violette
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. lavender simple syrup*
1/2 oz. eggwhite

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled and combined, about 20 seconds. Strain out ice and dry shake for another 30 seconds or so. Fine-strain into a coupe glass and garnish with lavender buds and flowers.

*For lavender syrup, make a typical 1:1 simple syrup and pour it into a jar with several sprigs of fresh lavender. Let sit overnight to infuse.

Clover Club

Sometimes knowing a lot of cocktails can work against you. If you have a small bar and a few tried-and-true drink recipes, it's easy to figure out what to make when you want a cocktail or when friends come over. But when you have a massive arsenal of bottles and books at your disposal, sometimes it's difficult to pick a recipe, especially if someone asks you to just "make them something" and doesn't know enough about cocktails to specify much beyond that. A good bartender (or home bartender) knows what questions to ask to find the perfect drink for a guest. But sometimes the occasion isn't right for twenty questions and it's nice to be able to just hand someone a good drink. So I'd argue that a really good home bartender should know a few crowd-pleasers that anybody will like. And the Clover Club is going on my list.

I knew the Clover Club would be good - it's basically a raspberry gin sour - but I didn't expect just how much I loved it. I'm not usually a raspberry fiend, but the syrup imparts just enough raspberry flavor for my taste (and also gives the drink its gorgeous color). We planted a little raspberry bush in our backyard a couple of years ago, and it has flourished with very little encouragement, so I was able to pick the raspberries for the syrup and garnish the morning before I used them. The syrup is a bit unique in that it's not made on the stove - Julie Reiner, founder of the Brooklyn bar named after this classic cocktail, says that this will cook the raspberries and change their flavor. Instead, they are muddled, mixed with sugar, and allowed to macerate for 20-30 minutes. Then you add some water and strain the mixture. It's a very easy drink to make considering how absolutely beautiful it looks.

History: The Clover Club is a very old cocktail. It is named for a men's club that met in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. It was exactly what you are probably picturing - a bunch of old, rich white dudes (including William Butler Yeats) sipping drinks in a sumptuous lounge paneled in dark wood. It seems quite incongruous that a lot of them were probably drinking this pink, frothy cocktail. The Clover Club of Philadelphia, a book published in 1897, mentions the drink and that it originated the previous year, in 1896. It enjoyed a lot of popularity in the pre-Prohibition years but, like many other great cocktails, faded into obscurity afterwards, probably because of the egg whites and its girly appearance. By 1934, Esquire was referring to it as a drink for "pansies." The modern cocktail renaissance renewed interest in this delicious cocktail, and Julie Reiner's Clover Club bar ensured that the recipe got some extra attention.

Clover Club

1 1/2 oz. gin (Plymouth recommended)
1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin recommended)
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. raspberry syrup*
1/4 oz. egg white**

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake well, for at least 20 seconds. Strain the drink, dump the ice, and return the cocktail to the shaker to shake again for at least 30 more seconds (this is called a reverse dry shake). Strain into a coupe and garnish with three raspberries on a pick.

*For raspberry syrup, muddle 1/4 cup raspberries in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup sugar and stir or muddle to mix it in well. The mixture should become bright red and juicy. Let it macerate for 20-30 minutes. Then add 1/4 cup water, stir well, and fine strain.

**It can be hard to pour small quantities of egg white - it all tends to goop out at once. I like to separate my egg white into a bowl and lightly whisk it so that it's easier to measure out 1/4 ounce.

Recipe from Julie Reiner via Imbibe. Historical info from Wikipedia, Punch, Gin Foundry, and The Cocktail Chronicles.

Penicillin

One of the things I love about cocktails is how they tie you to the past. Thanks to the recipes that have been preserved and the consistency with which many spirits and liqueurs are made, we can literally make drinks that someone would have sipped one hundred years ago.

The true test of a great cocktail is its ability to withstand the test of time. What allowed classics like the Manhattan and the Negroni to persist while other drinks were destined for obscurity in the pages of old recipe books? Obviously a classic cocktail needs to taste great. It also needs to be relatively simple. It's unlikely that a recipe involving orange foam or a fat wash is going to become ubiquitous. It needs to be something that any bartender at any bar can make.

By these metrics, what cocktails invented recently do you think people will still be drinking in 100 years? If you were to pose this question to a group of bartenders or cocktail enthusiasts, I can just about guarantee that someone would mention the Penicillin. It's a modern drink that has found universal fame and appeal. And it's easy to see why. A Scotch sour is made infinitely more interesting and delicious with a honey-ginger syrup and a bit of peaty single-malt to give it a hint of smoke. Admittedly, the honey-ginger syrup does break the rules a bit - not every bar will have one ready to go. But any bartender worth her salt will be familiar with the recipe. It's undeniably a new classic.

History: The Penicillin was invented in 2005 by Sam Ross (now at Attaboy) at Milk & Honey in New York. He created it as a riff on the Gold Rush while playing around with some bottles of Scotch from Compass Box - their Asyla for the base, and the Peat Monster for the float.

Penicillin

2 oz. blended Scotch (Famous Grouse)
3/4 oz. ginger-honey syrup*
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. peaty single-malt Scotch (Laphroiag 10-year)

Combine blended Scotch, ginger-honey syrup, and lemon juice in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube. Top with the single-malt and garnish with candied ginger.

*For ginger-honey syrup, combine equal parts honey and water in a saucepan and simmer gently, stirring until honey is dissolved. Add a small piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced. Let simmer for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and let sit for at least 15 minutes before straining. Let cool before using.

Recipe adapted from Punch.