Kir Rosé
Kir Rosé: THE drink of Summer, 2022.
My life as a food blogger takes me many interesting places, and this past Monday afternoon was a bit of an adventure.
I got invited to attend the Giffard West Cup. This was a cocktail competition, open to mixologists in Western Canada (though I think in reality, it ended up being only folks from BC). Sponsored by Giffard, the mixologists were required to use Giffard’s liqueur in their creations, and also to choose a song that matched or inspired their cocktail. They then demonstrated making it, while the song played in the background. It was really cool.
The contest was hosted at Acquafarina, which opened earlier this year on Georgia. It’s the sister restaurant to Per Se Social Corner on Homer, which I have loved a long time. Acquafarina is in an old bank, to which they did a pretty spectacular renovation, and the space is capital “S” STUNNING. Even though they’ve been open 6 months, I’d never gone because they had a rule that you weren’t allowed to bring cel phones and take photos of your food, and well… this girl needs to take photos of her food! That rule has recently been relaxed, so I look forward to trying the food there soon. PS if you go, be sure to go up the secret stairs across from the washrooms for a very cool surprise.
Back to the competition; there were 8 participants, many from my favourite places in the province, like The Kingfisher, The Courtney Room and Clive’s in Victoria, The Homer St Cafe, and Yasma, a brand new Lebanese place that just opened up in my ‘hood.
The winner was Danielle Crowley from the Raven Room in Whistler. The Eastern Canada winner was chosen already, one of these two will go on to represent Canada in France this summer.
But on to the drink!
Giffard, if you’re unfamiliar, makes flavoured spirits. So for those of you, who, like me, like to play around with cocktails, this stuff is so much fun (they make non-alcoholic syrups as well). They have lots of interesting flavours, like watermelon, pear, and even rhubarb (you know how obsessed I am this time of the year!)
The cocktail they made for us is called the Kir Rosé, and I have to say, it’s going to be my go-to cocktail of the summer. It’s light, refreshing, and has a nice punch of brightness from the grapefruit. It’s easy to make, plus it’s fun to say “pamplemousse.”
Kir Rosé
Materials
- 1 oz Giffard Pamplemousse
- 4 oz sparkling rose wine
- thinly sliced cucumbers
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a wineglass with ice, and stir briefly with a bar spoon.
- Garnish with cucumber slice.