A New Offering From the Makers of Empress 1908 Indigo Gin
Since launching in 2017, Victoria Distillers’ Empress 1908 Indigo Gin has become a mainstay on the backbars of some of the world’s best watering holes. Inspired by the legendary tea service at Victoria’s Fairmont Empress Hotel, it is distilled in small copper pot stills and infused with common gin botanicals such as juniper, as well as unusual ones like Empress tea and pea blossom. The pea blossom is what gives the final product its distinctive indigo hue that changes to lavender, pink, or fuschia, depending on what it’s mixed with. Since then, Victoria Distillers has added an additional four gins to the Empress 1908 lineup—including an equally pretty rose gin and a barrel-aged one—with the most recent debut occurring just this month.
The latest Empress 1908 gin, Cucumber Lemon, is inspired by the flavours of the sandwiches and pastries that accompany the tea during the Fairmont’s afternoon service. Unlike its indigo and rose siblings, this gin is perfectly transparent and is infused with eight botanicals, including cucumber, lemon, juniper, orange peel, jasmine, and cardamom. The result is a gin that is light on its feet, the juniper playing a supporting role behind the refreshing grassy, floral, and citrus flavours that come from the botanicals rounding things out. Unlike its legendary indigo predecessor, this gin won’t mesmerize with its chameleonic abilities, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t just the thing for any number of cocktails.
Empress 1908 Cucumber Lemon Gin as available at select BC Liquor locations and in private retailers across British Columbia.
