My blog anniversary and my absolute favourite cocktail recipe!
It has been one year since I started my blog. As I reflect back, I have certainly enjoyed having a space of my own online. I thought I would have published many more posts at this point but blogging has a lot more to it than I thought. I am in awe of some of the bloggers I follow. I do realize that I cannot compare myself, nor should anyone, to where others may be in their journey and for a one woman operation I am pleased with what I have done so far. I’m looking forward to the next twelve months to see what they might bring.
Onward and upward!
To any of you that are new to my blog and are just popping on today, for the first time, welcome and thank you! For those of you that have followed along and popped in and out, welcome back and thank you for reading. Please let me know in the comments section if there are specific things you’d like to see more of. More garden posts? More fashion? More of my home? I have lists and lists of blog topics and wonder what would be the most interesting for you? For now, I’ll just blog about things that I am interested in and that I think you will be as well x
I wish you all good fortune as we enter Autumn (my second favourite season after Spring) and head towards 2020. Please check out my drink recommendation below and give it a try if you imbibe. xo
The gin that gave me my favourite cocktail!
I think I have always enjoyed the odd gin and tonic, ever since I used to sneak sips from my mum’s special frosted G&T glass. I also enjoy a Pimm’s Cup on a lovely summer day.
I am still mostly a wine drinker but when I met Empress 1908 Gin, I was instantly smitten. It’s lovely with tonic (I recommend Fever Tree) but my favourite way to drink it is in the cocktail they call Q1908. The 1908 cocktail was created in 2008 to celebrate the centennial of the Fairmont Empress Hotel, in my home city of Victoria, BC and the Q-1908 Cocktail uses the amazing Empress 1908 Gin. It is easy to make and so very pretty to serve. It has the same four ingredients that a whisky sour has so it works well for us as David is a whisky drinker and loves a whisky sour.
Empress 1908 Gin is hand-crafted using eight signature botanicals: tea, juniper, rose, coriander seed, grapefruit peel, ginger root, cinnamon bark and butterfly pea blossom (this give the gin its earthy note and distinct purple colour. ) I am so smitten with it and since it is a locally made gin, we toured the distillary. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Let’s be honest, I was only going on it for the gin tasting and cocktail demonstration and tasting!
Recipe for a Q1908 Cocktail
2 oz. Empress 1908 Gin
3/4 oz. simple syrup *
juice of 1/2 lemon or 3/4 oz. **
egg white or aquafaba***
In a cocktail shaker add gin, simple syrup, lemon juice and egg white (more on this later). Shake dry (no ice). Add generous scoop of ice and shake again. Double strain into a pretty glass. That’s it!
*Simple syrup (I make my own with equal parts of water and white sugar and keep it in a bottle in the fridge)
**Lemon (I bought a fancy lemon squeezer just for cocktails and I love it!)
***Egg white (two tablespoons of aquafaba = one egg white) see below for more detail on this ingredient.
There are a few ways to approach the egg white component. One, is of course, to crack an egg and use the white. The other is to buy a container of simply egg whites that are now sold in grocery stores. The most exciting thing I have learned since visiting the distillery and their cocktail demonstration is to substitute chick pea liquid or aquafaba. Simply buy a can of chick peas and drain the liquid to use in place of the egg white. This is great for vegans or if you have concerns about using raw egg whites. It should last in the fridge about the same time as a container of egg whites. **hint - make many drinks ;).
Cheers! xo