Vanessa Bourget and Terri Potratz.  Raj Taneja photo.

Last week, Bombay Sapphire hosted an intimate soiree to showcase their newest cocktails and food pairings for the summer season.  Rob Rainford of the TV show License to Grill demonstrated some BBQ techniques with Bombay-marinated lamb and steak while Merlin Griffiths, Bombay’s global brand ambassador and senior mixologist, showed us some delicious new cocktails. Last year’s event at the Shangri-La was absolutely stunning, and so too was this event at a loft in the heart of Gastown.

My favourite drink of the night was the Sapphire Sangaree:

4 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
2 oz Ruby Port
2 oz Cointreau
3.5 oz lemon juice
topped with seasonal fruits and mint for garnish.
(makes 4 cocktails/1 pitcher)

Visit the Bombay Sapphire website Inspired Entertaining section for loads of great recipes, mixology lessons, entertaining tips, and more. There’s some fantastic ideas for summer parties to be found.  More photos of the event, courtesy of Raj Taneja and Urban Mixer, can be found here.