It's Negroni Week again!  In fact, if you're reading this on the 29th of June (like you're supposed to) you have one more day to find your local Negroni Week supporter and go have a drink for charity! Just think of it.  Drinking to help others, instead of for your own selfish reasons!  

If you can't get out though, here's a couple of unique twists on this classic cocktail for you to drink on your own.  First up is an unusual Negroni called, the Unusual Negroni.  This one comes from a book called "The Negroni: Drinking to La Dolce Vita, With Recipes & Lore" by Gary Regan.  In this drink, Aperol replaces the Campari and Lillet Blanc is used in place of sweet Vermouth.  Plus, Hendricks gin has a bit of a cucumber flavour.  You have to try this one!

Unusual Negroni

1 ounce Aperol
1 ounce Lillet Blanc
1 ounce Hendrick's Gin

Small grapefruit slice or grapefruit twist for garnish

To serve "on the rocks" (with ice cubes), stir Aperol, Lillet Blanc, and gin with ice in an Old Fashioned glass, then garnish with a grapefruit slice and serve.

To serve "up" (without ice cubes), stir Aperol, Lillet Blanc, and gin with ice in a mixing glass, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a grapefruit twist and serve.

Either way this is a tasty drink that is much less assertive than the traditional Negroni.  One could drink these by the mugfull!  Should you?  I don't know.  Depends on your day.  You going someplace special?  No?  Grab a mug.

Next up is another drink that will use up some more of that Sloe Gin you bought.  This one is from Robby Nelson and was featured on the Imbibe Magazine website.  It's the Sloe-groni!

Sloe-Groni
by Robby Nelson, NYC

1 1/2 ounce London dry gin
3/4 ounce Campari
3/4 ounce sloe gin

a flamed orange twist for garnish

Add all of the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice, then stir to chill.  Strain into a chilled coupe, then garnish with the flamed orange twist.

How do you flame an orange twist you ask?  Check out this video right here.

Easy right?  Soon you'll be flaming orange twists over everything from your breakfast cereal to the cat's dinner!

The drink is really good too by the way.  This one is much closer to the original Negroni with the only real difference being the sloe gin used instead of the vermouth, and the proportions being skewed in favour of the gin.  Usually, a Negroni is made with the ingredients measured in 3 equal parts.  Try it today!

​Oh!  If you're wondering if the Gents themselves flamed their orange peel twist, here's the photographic proof!  Why not spark one up for Canada Day or the Fourth of July?  See you next time!

Have you ever wanted to sponsor an episode of the Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure but you had no idea how?  Well, just do what what Gent Jason’s uncle did, and donate a bottle of your favourite liquor and see what they do with it!   It’s just that easy.


Turns out that Uncle Jack recently visited the multi award winning Sheringham distillery on beautiful Vancouver Island, and brought back a bottle of their Seaside Gin. What makes it especially “seaside” you ask?  Kelp!  Here’s what their website says about it.


SEASIDE GIN
Citrus, floral and notes of the sea make our Gin as refreshing as a seaside stroll.
Elegant for sipping and noble in your favourite cocktail…clean as the South Island surf.
Made from B.C. white wheat, B.C. malted barley, natural botanicals and sustainable hand-harvested local winged kelp (Alaria marginata).


AWARDS
WORLD GIN AWARDS WORLD’s BEST CONTEMPORARY GIN 2019
CASC GOLD MEDAL 2018
ALBERTA BEVERAGE AWARDS JUDGES SELECTION 2018
TASTE BC GOLD MEDAL 2018
SAN FRANCISCO WORLD SPIRITS COMPETITION 2017 SILVER MEDAL
B.C. DISTILLED 2017 2ND PLACE GIN AUDIENCE FAVOURITES
B.C. DISTILLED 2016 2ND PLACE GIN AUDIENCE FAVOURITES
VISC WINNER 2016 GIN CATEGORY


Obviously, the Gents couldn’t wait to taste it, and they chose a recipe from the Sheringham website to try it out.


TAJ MAHAL SUNSET
By Terence Fitzgerald / Spirits Consultant / Maple Bay, B.C. 

​2 oz. Sheringham Seaside Gin
¼ tsp Turmeric
¼ - ½ of a Lime
2 oz. Ginger Beer
⅛" thick Lime Slice
Combine gin, ginger beer and turmeric into a shaker and give a good shake. Juice the lime into the shaker, add ice and shake again, making sure all turmeric has dissolved. Strain into a lowball glass and garnish with lime slice.


The only thing the Gents would do differently in this tasty recipe would be to stir the ginger beer in afterwards because when they shook it, the ginger beer fizzed up and shot turmeric tinted liquid out of the sides of the shaker!  To be fair, the Gents had doubled the recipe for sharing purposes so it’s possible that for a single serving, it would shake up just fine.  Give it a whirl and let the Gents know.   Please send all of your dry cleaning bills to “Terence Fitzgerald / Spirits Consultant / Maple Bay, B.C.”

That’s two more great drinks this time around.  If you’re in the greater Victoria area make sure you head over to the Sheringham distillery for a visit!  Tell them “The Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure” sent you.   They’ll have no idea what you’re talking about!   Big fun all around!

​Also, I’d you want to sponsor an episode, do what Jack did and send along a bottle.  It’s just that easy!

Two exciting drinks this week!  One with Aquavit and one with Akavit.  The Gents know they're the same thing but it makes it more exciting.

How about trying a a drink that makes you think of the Northern Lights?  Not because of it's dancing spiraling colours, but because it's literally called the Northern Lights!

Northern Lights

3/4 ounce aquavit
3/4 ounce Canadian whisky
1 tsp grenadine
1 dash Angostura bitters
soda water for topping up
lemon wedge and orange slice for garnish

Shake all the ingredients, except the soda water, together with ice, and strain into an ice filled glass.  Add the fruit garnish to the glass and top with soda.

There's a refreshing little sip.

But what if your bottle doesn't say "aquavit" on it?  What if it says "akavit"?  Then try this next one.

Midnight Sun

1 ounce akavit
2 tsp grapefruit juice
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp sugar syrup
2 dashes grenadine
1/2 slice orange to garnish

Shake all the ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Perch the slice of orange on the rim of the glass.

Wow!  Remember when you thought that first drink was a refreshing little sip?  Now what do you do? Try them both again and leave a comment below.