The Phoenix Cocktail – A Color Changing Shimmery Cocktail
I bet you’ve never had this much fun with a cocktail before! A flaming color changing shimmery cocktail – This Phoenix Cocktail is a fruity, tangy, floral and sweet, Gin and Elderflower Cocktail that’s magical enough for Halloween, and delicious enough for any time of the year!
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If you thought I was done with these color changing, shimmery, super fun cocktails, I’ve got another one coming at you today! 🙂 And I’m totally in love with this one. It’s a magical color changing AND shimmery cocktail, which I like to call The Phoenix Cocktail! Technically, it’s a sweet, tangy gin and elderflower cocktail, but I like the sound of a phoenix cocktail better. Don’t you? 🙂
It may not be particularly spooky, but it’s magical enough to be Halloween-worthy if you’re still on the lookout for an entertaining idea for a Halloween cocktail party. But it’s also great for any time of the year. I put together THREE of my FAVORITE techniques to create this color changing shimmery cocktail. This gin-based cocktail is made with color changing gin, which I made by infusing the gin with butterfly pea flowers. You can get the recipe for it, in the recipe below but you can read all about this simple technique and get the tutorial for it here. Next, I added some food-grade white luster petal dust to the infused spirit to make it shimmery! I’ve discussed how I first discovered this neat little trick and how I made shimmery liqueur with it here and here. I’m doing the same for this shimmery cocktail BUT WITHOUT any added sugar syrup.
This phoenix cocktail (gin and elderflower cocktail) was also inspired by the bee’s knees cocktail, but instead of using honey, I used elderflower syrup to sweeten it (which is why I don’t call it a bee’s knees cocktail). You can make this color changing shimmery cocktail with lemon and elderflower syrup OR lemon and St. Germain liqueur.
Elderflower syrup – I made a lemon and elderflower syrup by combining strained lemon juice, elderflower syrup and vodka in a 1:1: 1/2 ratio (the vodka is optional in case you’d prefer a non-alcoholic version, but if you add vodka, the syrup will last longer since the alcohol acts as a preservative). You can use this syrup for non-alcoholic beverages as well (without the vodka of course).
St Germain Liqueur – If you have St Germain liqueur at home instead of elderflower syrup, you can use that for this color changing cocktail as well. Just mix strained lemon juice and St Germain liqueur in a 1 : 1 1/2 ratio.
So why am I calling it The Phoenix Cocktail? I’m serving this drink with the shimmery gin in a cocktail glass with a fragile layer of Rum 151 layered on top, and the lemon and elderflower syrup on the side. Then I light up the cocktail to create a mesmerizing flame over the blue shimmery gin, and then the syrup is carefully poured in to make this shimmery cocktail “MAGICALLY” change color from blue to purple! 🙂 How freaking awesome is that?
And even if you forego all the color changing, shimmery, flaming theatrics, this cocktail still stands strong on its own as an elegant, delicious gin and elderflower cocktail. It’s the taste that truly matters, and this one delivers. But I have to say, all that other stuff really does make it fun! 😀