FIRST JOURNEYS - A RACE AROUND THE WORLD 2020 - PIN 21 OF 23
EMPRESS GIN, BC Canada
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME.
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
Day 12 stop 2 ...
I'm on the final furlong and racing to back to London tomorrow, but I had to stop for tea at the gorgeous Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria on Vancouver Island. Much like Winston Churchill, I have asked for gin in my virtual teapot and I'm enjoying a gorgeous Empress 1908 Gin Sour.
Guests at this hotel range from stars such as Shirley Temple, John Wayne, British Royalty and let's not forget doggie royalty too, as Lassie had a brief overnight nap there too, so I'm in good company I think.
The Empress is one of the oldest hotels in Victoria and was completed in 1908. It was designed to look like a Chateau and was to act as a terminus hotel for Canadian Pacific's steamship line. This was rather shortlived as they stopped passenger services to the city a few years later and so it was remarketed as a tourist hotel and has recently had a multi-million dollar makeover.
One of the oldest artisan distilleries in Canada is also located in Victoria and was established as recently as 2008. They have collaborated with mixologists and the Fairmont Empress to make Empress 1908 Gin. Using traditional botanicals, but also a signature blend of black tea which is served at the hotel, as well as butterfly pea blossom, they have brought to market this absolutely stunning gin.
It's the butterfly pea flowers that give it the beautiful indigo colour and this changes with the addition of different mixers, so you can make drinks ranging from bright lavender, to pink or fuschia. A gin sour is perfect to showcase this and is one of my favourite cocktails.
I'm off again and heading over the north pole back towards Europe - I may squeeze one more stop in for breakfast before I'm back in London - after all, even Phileas Fogg only needed to be back at the Reform Club for 8.45pm so I'm taking full advantage of the time! Question is..... what gin do they serve at the Reform Club?
