It’s Friday so that means it’s time for a cocktail.

I’m both celebrating (and mourning) the completion of Onyx Storm, the third book in Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series. I finished it around midnight last night, and now I’m already dreading the wait for the 4th installment which looks like it won’t be out for another year or two! So, to honor the bittersweet end of Onyx Storm, I created a cocktail to celebrate my favorite dragon, Andarna.

When Andarna was a hatchling, she was described as having rich golden scales with a shimmering, faintly iridescent glow. Not to give too much away, but the change in her scales color as the series progresses parallels the growth and change Violet (the main character) herself undergoes as she comes into her role as a dragon rider and leader. Next week I’ll have a cocktail inspired by Violet. I can’t leave her out. Maybe there will a dark Xaden cocktail too. Stay tuned.

I love the Empyrean series – it feels like a perfect mix of Harry Potter’s magical world, Game of Thrones’s brutal stakes and political intrigue, and a touch of Fifty Shades of Grey’s spice.

This high end cocktail has only the best in honor of the irid dragon of the 7th den, Andarna.

The Gilded Dragon
Makes 2

Ingredients:
4 oz golden rum (I used a rum from BVI, Botany Bay; Foxy’s sipping rum)
1 oz Grand Marnier
1 oz Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
1 oz ginger simple syrup (see below)
1 oz fresh lime juice
4 oz Champagne or sparkling wine
Edible gold dust
garnish: candied ginger or dehydrated clementine slice

optional: a few drops of chili tincture (see below)
(to be really authentic use Scorpion pepper to make it 😉 iykyk)

Directions:
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine the golden rum, Grand Marnier, ginger liqueur, ginger syrup, lime juice, and chili tincture (if using). Shake vigorously for 1 full minute. Strain over a small fine mesh sieve (to get any lime pulp out) into a chilled coupe or martini glass. Slowly top with champagne or sparkling wine, about 2 oz per glass. Sprinkle a generous pinch of edible gold dust over the top and give it a gentle swirl. Look at that shimmer!

Garnish with a skewer of candied ginger or a slice of dehydrated clementine.

Honey Ginger Simple Syrup:
½C white sugar
½C water
2″ of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

Directions:
Peel the ginger before slicing so it doesn’t turn the simple syrup brown. Add all ingredients to a small pan and bring up to boil, turn off the heat and let infuse for 2 hours. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a glass jar. Refrigerate up to a week.

Scorpion Pepper Tincture: Must be made ahead of time
WEAR GLOVES and wash your hand vigorously after working with hot peppers.
In a small jam-sized mason jar, fill it with chopped scorpion peppers, ghost peppers, or jalapeño peppers. Top with vodka to cover all the peppers and let sit for a day or two before using. Use a dropper to dispense.