Scoring a Gibson's Touchdown

It's Grey Cup weekend and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are facing off against the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.

My friend's son Simon Ho, who tends bar at Toronto's trendy Drake Hotel, entered a drinks competition sponsored by Gibson's whisky. He invented a drink called the Gibson's Touchdown. It won and is now billed as the official drink of the Grey Cup by Gibson's. Here's the recipe:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and combine:

- 1 1/2 oz. rye whisky

- 1/2 oz. orange juice

- 1/4 oz. maple syrup

- 1 oz. cranberry juice

- Dash of bitters

- Shake and serve in a rocks glass filled with ice

- Serve with pretzels or other salty snacks



I served the drink last night to friends. We discovered that the dash of bitters is an essential ingredient--otherwise the drinks turn out a bit too sweet. I used Averno bitters and served the drinks stirred rather than shaken with a slice of orange as a garnish.

We drank the tasty cocktails before dinner with cheese, crackers, spicy Thai-flavoured chips and corn chips.

One consumer of the drink was so taken with it that he wrote with the following remarks:

"Thaza darngolly good kinda drink, graycop er not. Tried er out shevral times B4 dinnar an gollyjeez that crunbry an maplesyrup an oranj shur nokkkt me fera looperoony, eh? Wifey wuz sayin givsome, givsom, tuchdone, tuchdon. Bud I sez Too late, eh? I drunk itall. We ar rye outta ran, eh, er rAnoutta rye."