Yes, in case you’re wondering, it’s named after the Ween song of the same name. If you know nothing about Ween, I’m sad for you. They’re one of the great indi rock bands of the 90s. Two brothers, Dean and Gene Ween, from upstate New York, started it all…But no…I’ve come to learn, they were not actually brothers at all, or from upstate New York, but buddies in high school in Pennsylvania and yes, their names were not Gene and Dean Ween but Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo. Hmm.

This is supposed to be some sort of French 75 variation kind of a thing, hence the name. I think it started out as either French 76 or Freedom of 75? I don’t know, but the Ween song stepped into my head almost immediately.

I made dragon whey with dehydrated dragonfruit peels in milk with added burnt milk powder as a tea of sorts. Six ounces of milk, a good cup of the dried dragonfruit peels, a handful of dried orange slices, about three tablespoons of burnt milk powder, all heated to 160 degrees and left to sit for about a half hour. I then added a teaspoon of citric acid and two ounces of fresh lemon juice and let it sit another half hour then strained it.

Looks pretty appetizing right?

The result was creamy, purple deliciousness. I’m quite happy with this as I’ve been trying to figure out a use for the dragonfruit peels for quite some time. Once you have your dragon whey, just blend it with equal parts by weight sugar and you’re off to the races.

Freedom of ’76

1.5 oz. London Dry Gin

.5 oz. Dragon Whey

.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz. Passionfruit Syrup

.25 oz. Dragonfruit Puree

3 oz. Champagne

2 Dashes Grapefruit Bitters

Squirt your dragonfruit puree into the bottom of a large coupe glass and add champagne, it’ll be a little fizzy and cool looking. Shake the remaining ingredients and strain into the large coupe. Quaff.