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Bach Flower Remedies Cocktails at The Victoria Room

The Victoria Room in Darlinghurst has launched a new cocktail menu with drinks that are just what the doctor ordered.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
Luke Hanzlicek, Bar Manager of the Victoria Room

Luke Hanzlicek, Bar Manager at the Victoria Room has created what is believed to be a world first – a range of cocktails that use Bach Flower Remedies, each selected on emotional states you experience in a bar.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
Bach Flower Remedies

Dr Edward Bach, a renowned homeopath from the 1930s believed that people suffer from 38 negative emotions. He discovered that he could feel vibrations from certain flowers which counteract each of these negative emotions.

The remedies used in the cocktail are the genuine Dr Bach extracts. The plants are cooked to extract their essence which is then preserved in grape-based brandy. Each remedy comes in a small bottle with a dropper, and just as doctors previous prescribed bitters to cure ailments, the cocktail list targets a specific emotional state.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
Fresh 75

Feeling shy and timid, on a first date, blind date, or with a group of people you don’t know well? The Fresh 75 cocktail ($19) features the Bach Flower Remedy, mimulus. The drink is made with Hendricks Gin, Pavan Orange Blossom liqueur and lemon juice shaken with a slice of cucumber and topped with sparkling wine. Elegant and easy-drinking, it has light, floral characteristics, without being overly sweet or sour. The sparkling wine adds a touch of dryness and makes a good choice for a first drink.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
Sea Change Cocktail

If you’re uncertain of your destiny and need help to choose life’s path, take the Sea Change Cocktail ($20) which uses the Bach Flower Remedy, wild oat. The drink is made with Hendricks Gin, shaken with TMD Quandong and Gentian liqueur, lemon juice and orgeat. It starts fresh with a hint of citrus, followed by sweetness and a slightly bitter finish from the liqueur.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
Dita Fizz

If you’re homesick or living in the past, the Bach Flower Remedy, honeysuckle is featured in the Dita Fizz ($19), a cocktail specifically created for Dita Von Teese when she visited The Victoria Room earlier in the year. A mix of Cointreau, rose water, pink grapefruit juice and mint charged with soda water gives the drink a sweeter style with a little tartness from the grapefruit juice.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
First Lady

Absent-minded or a little dreamy? The First Lady ($19) offers clarity of mind, with the Bach Flower Remedy, clematis. A mix of Russian Standard Vodka shaken with Aperol, peach puree, lemon juice and housemade ginger and honey syrup yields a a good winter drink,  sweet and fruity with a hint of bitterness that finishes with the warmth of ginger.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
Peruvian Star

Procrastinating in life? Give the Peruvian Star ($20) a go and harness the Bach Flower Remedy, hornbeam which is said to have you flying high. A take on the Pisco Sour, the cocktail is made with Encanto Pisco, shaken with muddled fresh pears, homemade anise syrup, lime juice and a dash of egg white, garnished with a shooting star made of star anise and dry wattleseed. This delicious drink plays on winter flavours with the pears, star anise while the wattleseed adds a nutty finish.

The Victoria Room Dr Bach Remedies Cocktails
The Victoria Room

The cocktail list launched two weeks ago and has proved to be very popular, not only with female drinkers for being light and approachable, but with men who have taken to the Sea Change and the Peruvian Star.

No matter what emotional state you experience in a bar, the remedy is close at hand. Just take the stairs up to the opulent Victoria Room and have what Dr Bach ordered.

Photography © by Corinne & Kevin Burke for Gourmantic – Copyright: All rights reserved.

The Victoria Room
1/235 Victoria St
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
www.thevictoriaroom.com

About the author

Corinne Mossati

Corinne Mossati is a drinks writer, author of GROW YOUR OWN COCKTAIL GARDEN, SHRUBS & BOTANICAL SODAS and founder/editor of Gourmantic, Cocktails & Bars and The Gourmantic Garden. She has been writing extensively about spirits, cocktails, bars and cocktail gardening in more recent years. She is a spirits and cocktail competition judge, Icons of Whisky Australia nominee, contributor to Diageo Bar Academy, cocktail developer and is named in Australian Bartender Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential List. Her cocktail garden was featured on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia and has won several awards. She is a contributor to Real World Gardener radio program and is featured in several publications including Pip Magazine, Organic Gardener, Australian Bartender and Breathe (UK). Read the full bio here.

5 Comments

  • I believe a cocktail bar in Brisbane called the Walrus club has had a collection of cocktails on their menu for many months, containing herbs that affect a persons state of mind. One was called the XX, based on a an Aztec recipe for drinking chocolate, it had Damiana root, Horny goat weed, perfect for couples as I was told.
    They seem to be paving the way in cocktails up here in Brisbane, they always have weird and amazing drinks and I believe they are the first in Australia to do so, they deserve some praise.

    Thanks
    Nick Royds

    • Thanks Nick. I’ll pass it on, and look forward to checking it out when we’re in Brisbane.