Empress 1908

Victoria Distillers, 42.5% alcohol
Availability: Various retailers across Canada
Known botanicals: Butterfly pea blossom, tea, juniper, grapefruit peel, coriander seed, cinnamon bark, rose petal, ginger root

The name evokes royalty as does its fantastic cobalt blue from butterfly pea flowers, set off in an elegant bottle, accompanied by a beautiful and informative website. What fun it must be to enjoy this gin at its home in the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC! This impressed me immediately with its deep blue colour — perhaps the deepest of the Canadian blue gins I’ve seen, and the promise of the colour-changing to violet and pink when tonic or citrus (acids) are added. I did have a lot of fun playing with it too, and I found it to be so delicate that I could enjoy sipping it — which is particular fun with that great colour!

The nose is soft juniper and citrus — I couldn’t recognize it at first, but it turns out to be grapefruit peel highlighted with spice. Grapefruit becomes more distinct on the palate, but it remains smooth with other botanicals hard to distinguish. Perhaps it’s the black tea that pulls together the spices along with the faintest floral note from rose. Juniper and ginger linger briefly on the finish.

Because it’s smooth and has such great colour, it’s nice to sip straight over ice or with soda and muddled herbs (the Cucumber Blue), all of which will allow you to enjoy the gorgeous blue.

It can be overwhelmed in some cocktails like a Negroni or even a salty dog. Better to stick with G&T, Tom Collins, and other light cocktails with lemon or garnished with grapefruit — see suggested cocktail recipes on the Empress 1908 website, including a few that are manageable for the home mixologist. As they recommend, make the martini 4:1 with Lillet. Or try my version below that pumps up the grapefruit.