Park Avenue Cocktail

Some Park Avenue recipes offer a splash of Orange Curacao, either way this vintage cocktail, with it's fairly basic ingredients, is fruity and smooth. 


Park Avenue Cocktail

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3oz Gin

1oz Sweet Vermouth
1oz pineapple juice 

Place all ingredients into  cocktail shaker with cracked ice an shake well. Strain into chilled martini glasses. 

Enjoy the sunshine and have a great weekend everyone! - JD 

Third Degree

Simple and delicately dry the third degree is an enjoyable sipping cocktail.  

Third Degree

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4 1/2 oz gin

2 1/4 oz dry martini

3 teaspoons Absinthe

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail or large wine glasses. Enjoy! 


Have a great weekend everyone! - JD

The Dry Lord Suffolk

Normal, you would use a sweet vermouth however we opted to use a dry vermouth, therefore creating a dry Lord Suffolk. This Dry Lord Suffolk packs a punch with playful flavours that go down smooth.

The Dry Lord Suffolk 

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4 oz of gin

1 oz Cointreau

1 oz dry vermouth 

1 oz cherry liqueur
twist of orange peel 

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glasses. Add a twist of orange peel into each glass.  

Have a great weekend everyone! - JD 

Hibiscus Dry Martini

With many wonderful cocktail syrups out there, this hibiscus syrup was begging to be tried and it made a beautiful cocktail.  

Hibiscus Dry Martini

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Makes 2 cocktails

5 oz gin

2 oz dry vermouth

1/2 oz Hibiscus syrup 

Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a cocktail glasses. Enjoy!

Notes: may be garnish with an edible flower or an orange peel. 

Have a great weekend everyone! - JD

California Gimlet

A refreshing citrus cocktail bursting with lime flavour. Using Roses's lime cordial enhances the fresh juice, so I do recommend that. Perfect for hot summer nights or cosy winter ones. This cocktail will have you California dreaming in no time...   

California Gimlet

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2 ounces gin

3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice (the juice of 2 limes)

Dash of Rose's lime cordial , optional

1 ounce simple syrup

lime wheel, for garnish

Combine the gin, lime juice(s), and syrup in a mixing glass with ice and shake well. Strain into a small cocktail glass or serve over ice in an old-fashioned glass, garnish with the lime wheel. 

Have a great weekend everyone! - JD

The Ritz Bijou

I am pretty sure I posted about this cocktail before or a variant there of. A smooth sip with a lovely kick. 

The Ritz Bijou

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1 1/2 ounces gin

3/4 ounce orange curaçao

3/4 ounce French dry vermouth

Dash of orange bitters

Maraschino cherry, for garnish

Combine the gin, curaçao, vermouth, and bitters in a mixing glass with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the cherry.

Note: to make a drier cocktail use 2 1/2 ounces gin and only 1/2 ounce curaçao and a 1/2 ounce vermouth.  

Hope everyone is having a good start to the New Year. - JD 

Dancing Leprechaun

The Dancing Leprechaun. Refreshing and crisp with a twist of lemon and lime. This cocktail does not guarantee that you will be doing a jig however you will absolutely enjoy its sparkling celebratory flavour. 

Dancing Leprechaun

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1 1/2 oz. Irish whiskey

3/4 oz. Drambuie

3/4 oz. lemon juice

Ginger ale to taste

twist of both lemon and lime

Shake together the liquid ingredients with ice. Strain into a glass filled with ice cubes. Add a twist of lemon and lime. 

OR...

Shake the Irish whiskey, Drambuie and lemon juice together, with ice. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice cubes. Top up with the ginger ale. Add a twist of lemon and lime. 

Juniper Breeze

This is such a refreshing cocktail however aren't they all! A nice combination of grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, and Elderflower blended with gin; it certainly brings a tangy fragrant sip to the lips.

Juniper Breeze
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3 oz Gin
3 oz Grapefruit juice
1 oz Cranberry juice
1 oz Elderflower Cordial
1 dash of lime juice 

Pour all ingredients into a glass; stir add ice and serve with lime slices. 

I have a couple of busy weeks ahead so may not be posting as often as I wish. Will try and be here when I can. Have a great weekend everyone! - JD 

East India Cocktail

The weekend brought a serious amount of rain. So my husband made this unique cocktail, the East India. A rosy amber delight worth every sip.

East India Cocktail

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1 1/2 oz dry sherry

1 1/2 oz dry vermouth

1 dash of bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve. May be garnished with a orange peel. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Despite the rain we did! - JD 

Saketini Cocktail

It is Canada Day and this light but refreshing cocktail is throughly enjoyable and a great way to celebrate the day and weekend!

Saketini

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2 1/2 oz  gin

1/4 oz sake

Pour over ice and stir.

Pour into a glass of your choice, and top up with Crawston's or any brand of Elderflower Lemonade. Enjoy. 


Mellow and smooth... Happy Canada Day! - JD 

Verveine

Verveine was a pleasant surprise given to me. I was not quite familiar with this vibrant bottle green liqueur. At first trying to find information or rather cocktail recipes in regards to it was a bit tedious. I searched through the 3 cocktail books I have with no luck.

So we decided to mix a bit with club soda as an aperitif before dinner one evening. The drink had a slight minty taste with a hint of lemon. Although it was refreshing, I thought there must be a Verveine cocktail out there. We turned to the internet and came across this page... Verveine.com  which if you can sift through the French it has some lovely cocktails like this one...

Royal Verbana

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5 cl of Verveine

5 cl white wine 

5 cl of soda ( or Champagne for a Royal Spritzer)

Fill the glass with ice cubes.

Stir with a spoon, add ice cubes and 2 slices of cucumber.

Type of glass: broad, round type pool. 

For more Verveine cocktails click *here* 

Hope everyone had a good weekend. - JD 

Victoria Gin

Victoria Gin is Canada's first premium gin. It's smooth with hints of evergreen, citrus, floral and spice. Although I found the citrus to be the most noteworthy undertone to my palette. It's gluten free and possibly might be Canada's cousin to Sipsmiths or Hendricks. The bottle is no fuss featuring a younger Queen Victoria and has it's own batch number. To find out more about Victoria Gin click on this word *Victoria*. - JW  

Sipsmith Gin Distillery Tour

When I was in London I took in a gin distillery tour at Sipsmith. Instead of giving you all the details on the tour. I have decided to share my photos with a few comments thrown in here and there. I do highly recommend this tour. It was fun, informative and sampling the spirits were a bonus! 

Looks can be deceiving! There is a gin distillery behind those blue doors. Step over the threshold and see the only copper distillery in London in over 200 years! Lucky number 27.  

Who needs curtains when empty bottles will do! How many times a month do they do a tour? 

This spirit bottle is empty but beautiful nonetheless. They usually rest the ageing spirits.  

Besides Fairfax, whom is one of the founders, greeting us was a lovely gin and tonic! I don't know how many people were there that night, it was a packed warehouse, warm and the gin and tonic was refreshing.  

Part One: Prudence won't you come out and play! Preferably to make gin and vodka. The name Carl is etched on the centre circle due to it's producer, Christian Carl.   

When you look through the port hole on the side this is what you see. Loads of bubbly action. 

Part Two: The birth of Prudence. It's dated the 14th of March 2009.   

Part Three of Prudence. The Fractional Distillation Column. When making vodka, it's ingredients, barley and water pass through the five plates. However when making gin it bypasses the five plates. Making the gin more botanical.  

All together now. Prudence and Fairfax. A bit blurry but Fairfax was passionate, informative, eloquent and had a very good sense of humour. 

Sipsmiths Summer Cup which is absolutely divine! Their Winter Warmer was as well. Since they are not a bonded warehouse you can't buy directly from them. I bought a bottle from duty-free at Heathrow Airport on my way back to Canada. Sipsmith isn't available across Canada, although Fairfax informed us that the province of Ontario will soon be carrying it... next year I believe. Lucky them! You can find out more about Sipsmith by visiting *here*  and by taking a tour. Happy sipping. cheers. - JW