Lavender Haze Cocktail Recipe: The Official Taylor Swift Gin Drink

A purple-hued drink made with Empress 1908 Gin has become the official Taylor Swift gin cocktail. (Photo: Empress 1908 Gin)

After being served at The Eras Tour pre-party in Arizona, a tasty little cocktail called the Lavender Haze has become the official gin drink of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Yet there’s no need to feel like you missed out on an exclusive drinking experience, as the Lavender Haze can be easily made at home following a strategic trip to a liquor store!

Lavender Haze Cocktail Recipe

Thanks to a TikTok video, the pretty drink was revealed to be a creative combination of Empress 1908 Indigo gin, elderflower tonic water, lemon juice, rhubarb bitters and Velvet Falernum (a sweet and spicy rum-based liqueur). Let’s make a Lavander Haze!

• 1.5 oz Empress gin (review here)
• 1 oz Lemon juice
• 1 oz Velvet Falernum
• A few dashes of Rhubarb bitters
• Elderflower tonic water to top
• Garnish: Lemon twist

In a cocktail shaker full of ice, add in your gin, lemon juice, Velvet Falernum and bitters. Shake vigorously until icy cold and strain your cocktail into a glass with additional ice, then top it off with tonic. Squeeze your lemon twist over the cocktail, rub it along the rim of the glass and drop it in. Enjoy!

About Empress 1908 Gin

(Photo: Empress 1908)

First launched in 2017 by Canadian distillery Victoria Distillers, Empress 1908 is a modern gin with a citrus-forward flavor profile and color-changing party trick. Depending on which acidic ingredient (such as lemon juice or tonic water) is mixed with the spirit, it can shift from its original deep indigo hue to lavender, fuchsia or pink. The lavender shade in particular is most likely where the Taylor Swift cocktail got its name, as the actual recipe contains no lavender-based ingredient.

Empress 1908 changes color thanks to its inclusion of the butterfly pea flower, a plant with a natural presence of pH-sensitive pigments found in red cabbage and grapes. This phenomenon, called the “chameleon effect” has become so trendy within the spirits world that there is actually quite a menagerie of other purple, color-shifting gins on the market. In fact, two other spirit brands —  Ink Gin and Sharish Gin  — are accredited with launching the first gins of this type two years before Empress 1908 took the gin world by storm.

Find out more about purple gin here and take a closer look at all things Empress 1908 here

While Empress 1908 is a key ingredient in the Lavender Haze cocktail, it’s okay to swap it out for a different gin in a pinch, such as another citrusy one or a different purple gin you like. Really, this cocktail is about sipping on something tasty and pretty, so make it work with what you’ve got.

Cheers!

Read next:

Toast to National Gin and Tonic Day With 5 Creative Riffs on the Classic Cocktail

‘A Real Juliet and Romeo Love Story’: Betty Buzz Tonic and Aviation Gin Unite in Ad for Blake Lively’s Mixer Brand

The 5 Best Gins We Tasted in March 2023

Here at Gin Raiders, we do more than write about current events in gin and spirits. We are the only media property reviewing gins and aggregating the scores and reviews of other significant voices in the gin world in one place. If you’re interested in getting a shot of gin in your morning email, sign up for our Deal of the Day newsletter.