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It’s time for another in my series of drag inspired cocktails. This one is inspired by The Boulet Brothers of “Dragula” fame.
Table of Contents
Background/Inspiration for Blood and Drag Cocktail Inspired by the Boulet Brothers
The Boulet Brothers first came on my radar when season 3 popped up in my netflix recommendations. I was immediately hooked on the Boulet Brothers take on the world of drag competition.
They are the most inclusive I’ve seen of televised drag competition series (Landon Cider was the first drag king featured on tv drag competition and immediately proved any doubters wrong, see “The Mustache Daddy” berry gin fizz drink recipe inspired by Landon). They also mix in a little bit of Fear Factor, plenty of horror elements, and challenges that are unheard of on other shows.
You can tell they also don’t necessarily cast the richest drag performers, at least the seasons I’ve seen. This means they still have that rag-tag, fly-by-night reliance on creativity and skill instead of the biggest checkbook. (That being said, the performers still need to have some polish to win but I rarely thought “oh the contestant spent a lot of money on this from a couture designer instead of making it themselves”). I love that bit of scrappiness in a creative competition.
The Brothers themselves, although very spooky and typically bathed in blood, radiate kindness and acceptance. They may look like glamorour demons but you can feel the genuine affection they have for their contestants and crew. If you’ve never experienced the Boulet Brothers, they are worth the cost of a Shudder subscription.
This makes them the perfect inclusion in my Drag Inspired Pride Cocktail Series and I hope you’ll agree.
Cocktail Journey for Spooky Halloween Bourbon Drink Recipe
Admittedly, this cocktail didn’t start from the most inspired place. Basically my thought process was Boulet Brothers–> Blood –> Blood and Sand cocktail. You may notice the final cocktail has very little in common with a classic Blood and Sand which is typical of my cocktail journeys.
Immediately I was hampered by blood oranges not being in season. I ended up using pink cava cavas, but their flavor isn’t super different from your classic navel orange. I decided to make it into a syrup and added berries for flavor and color. (Some people claim they can taste berries when eating actual blood oranges. These people are liars but I wanted to recreate that experience.)
After that it was off to my local liqur store which has a shockingly poor vermouth selection. Without that depth of flavor the cocktail was really flat so I added the Angostura to add some herbally depth. Then I spotted the Cranberry Liqueur from a local distillery (Great Lakes Distillery) and decided to give it a shot. It is a good cocktail ingredient, very delicious with a nice flavor and a sour punch.
Because of the sour punch in the liqueur I toned down the citric acid I usually add to my syrups quite a lot.
The only alterations I made after that was finding the right balance between the ingredients, which required a fair dose of bourbon to balance out the strong flavors of the liqueur and syrup. It’s dark, bloody, but very kind to the soul, just like the Boulet Brothers themselves.
Cocktail Recipe
Cocktail (makes 1)
- 2oz bourbon
- 1oz blackberry orange syrup (see below)
- .75oz Great Lakes Cranberry Liqueur
- 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Stir until chilled and pour in a glass garnished with edible sparkly glitter blood drizzle. (The wine glass pictured was found at a thrift shop and I couldn’t find it available online new. If you search “black tulip stem wine glass” you can find them on ebay)
Blackberry Orange Syrup / Glitter Blood Drizzle Garnish syrup
- 2 oranges (blood oranges if they’re in season)
- 1.5 cups sugar (divided into 1 cup and .5 cup)
- 1 teaspoon citric acid
- 1/2 cup blackberries
- corn starch slurry (1.5 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1.5 tbsp cold water)
- 1.5 cups water
- Edible Glitter
- 1/8 tsp salt
Directions:
In a large pourable container zest and juice the oranges. Add blackberries and muddle everything together. Add water and use an immersion blender to fully combine. Strain to remove pulp, seeds, and large pieces of zest.
Glitter Blood Syrup Recipe
Take .5 cup of the mixture and put in in a small saucepan and stir in the cornstarch slurry until dissolved. Add 1 cup of sugar and stir again. Heat mixture until it just starts to boil and reducee heat to low and gently simmer for about 5 minutes. Be extremely careful not to get any hot syrup on you or allow the mixture the boil (you don’t want to make hard candy). Remove from heat and add edible glitter until sufficiently sparkly (I ended up using about half a teaspoon). Allow to cool before using. If the syrup isn’t red enough add food coloring until blood red. I ended up using red and a little black to get it nice and dark, as well as shit ton of edible glitter.
Blackberry Orange Syrup
With remaining liquid add 1 tsp citric acid, 1/8tsp salt, and .5 cup sugar. Use immersion blender until everything is dissolved. Can be used immediately. (I made this less sour than most of my syrup recipes as the Cranberry liqueur was already pretty sour. If you substitute a liqueur that is not sour, add another teaspoon or 2 of citric acid.)
Optional Garnish: Nori Horns
I took a small square of nori wrap and wrapped them into horns, using a little water to keep it together. I then cut some small slits so the horns could be placed on the glass rim. This garnish is technically edible but will add an “ocean-y” flavor to your palate.
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