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Welcome to the next entry in my series of Pride cocktails inspired by drag performers. This week’s cocktail is inspired by the Drag King that blew away his competition on Season3 of the Boulet Brother’s Dragula. The absolutely stunning, Landon Cider.
Be sure to follow Landon on all the various social media.
Table of Contents
Background/Inspiration For Drag King Landon Cider Inspired Drink
Landon Cider first came on my radar during season 3 of the Boulet Brother’s Dragula. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend getting Shudder and binging all the seasons immediately. If you enjoy drag competition shows, you’ll like this spooky, inclusive, and dirtier drag fest. (watch my review here.)
Though the season was full of memorable performers, ghoulish challenges, and stunning looks, Landon Cider was a clear stand-out from the beginning. Landon calmly and diligently worked to create bespoke handpainted bodysuits in addition to their costumes for every runway (which were often destroyed on stage.) The looks were stunning, the performances vibrant, and Landon basically sailed to the finish line, putting any doubts that only Queens can win pageants to rest. Drag Kings, Drag Monsters, Drag Performers of any background can shine with talent on stage.
Cocktail Journey: How I Crafted a Hibiscus Gin Sour Cocktail
I knew I needed a gin cocktail and one of the first places I start when crafting gin cocktails is the tea aisle. Tea syrups enhance and compliment gin very well and can make for some really tasty cocktails. I struck gold almost immediately with this hibiscus berry earl grey blend.
Hibiscus is one of my favorite cocktail flavors (see: Hibiscus Mojito) and the berry blend they used has just enough tart punch without being very sweet. I could drink this tea by itself and will probably end up using it for iced tea on hot days.
Getting the balance in the syrup was a nightmare. For the first few practice mini-batches, dried violets were involved. But violets remain something that unless I have days of free time and a meadow of wild violets currently in season growing next to me, I continue to avoid it.
From there I wanted to make a sour. I also really wanted to experiment with aquafaba, which is just the liquid in a can of chickpeas. Some people I spoke to said they can always taste beans, but I didn’t find that to be a problem, especially with the stronger flavors I was using. It produced a nice silky foam and somewhat thicker mouthfeel from the cocktail (although it was not as velvety as using an egg white.)
It’s definitely a nice vegan alternative and I was able to make some chickpea fritters to snack on while I was working on the cocktail, so win/win.
Hibiscus Tea Gin Sour Cocktail Recipe
For the Cocktail:
- 2 oz Gin (I used Aviation)
- 1.5 oz Hibiscus Berry Tea Sour Syrup (see below)
- .25 oz Blue Curacao
- .5 oz aquafaba
I put all in the ingredients in a Bullet Blender about 5-6 small ice cubes (the more cubes you use the colder and more watered down it will get, too many and it will be a slushy.) Blend the cocktail until you don’t hear ice anymore and then wait 10 more seconds. This serves the same purpose as a dry shake but more efficiently.
I would recommend making one cocktail at a time to make sure it’s properly aerated, although you could probably get away with 2 depending on the capacity of your blender.
Pour into an 8oz martini glass (the foam will take up a fair amount of space)
For the Hibiscus Berry Tea Sour Syrup (makes enough for 6 cocktails)
- 2 packets Hibiscus Berry Tea
- 9 oz Boiling Water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp citric acid
- 1/4 tsp salt
Steep the tea in boiling water for 6-8 minutes. Remove bags and add remaining ingredients. Stir until fully dissolved. Allow to cool before using.
For the Glitter Mustache Cocktail Garnish (Tips and Tricks for Using a Cocktail Stencil)
- mustache stencil (I found mine on Etsy (not an affiliate link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/631132310/mustache-stencils-set-3-coffee-stencils )
- edible glitter
So this can be tricky, if you don’t care if the end result is perfect, just sprinkle away, it still looks good. If you want a nice crisp it takes a bit of technique.
First, make sure that the foam of your cocktail is very close to but not all the way to the top of the glass. Next, make sure your stencil covers the entire glass (mine was slightly too small so I used some masking tape to extend it). Start a few inches above your cocktail and tap the glitter gently to create a small gentle shower of glitter. Carefully remove stencil.
It’s a production, but it’s sure to be entertaining.
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