Sixty iconic drag performers are the inspiration for this fun and fabulous collection of cocktails and zero-proof drinks recipes. Category Is: Cocktails! Celebrates drag legends, including designers, dancers, comedians, community activists, contortionists, Emmy winners, and Broadway actors.
The book features drag’s big names, such as stars of reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race Kim Chi, Trixie Mattel, and Latrice Royale. Scenestal warts Divine and Peaches Christ are featured alongside international performers like Pabllo Vittar and Pangina Heals.
The tipples here are equal parts delicious and quirky, with beautifully-rendered illustrations and profiles of the personalities who inspired them. Along with straightforward recipes, the authors cover the basics of preparing, garnishing, and serving mixed drinks.
Armed with these brilliant concoctions and some deep-dive diva trivia, this terrific resource will make you the life of your next cocktail party.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
DAVID DODGE is a journalist covering LGBTQ+ issues, travel, politics, and culture for outlets including the New York Times, Travel + Leisure, The Advocate, Out, and News week. He is the co-author of Sassy Planet and NYC Storefronts, both published by Prestel. He lives in New York City.
DAVID ORTON is a graphic designer and creative director specializing in branding, identity, art direction, and communication design. In his spare time, he DJs under the name DSO, and creates his own cocktails. He lives in New York City.
CHEYNE GALLARDE is an award-winning illustrator focused on queer and pop culture-related subject matter. His clients include LOGO TV, Penguin Books, True Religion, Johnson & Johnson, and Netflix. He lives in Los Angeles.
Now, one to try for yourself…
Trixie Mattel – Barbie’s Gone Coconuts © Cheyne Gallarde
Barbie’s Gone Coconuts
Makes 4 drinks
- 1 cup (240 ml) light rum
- 2 cups (400 g) ice
- 1 (12 fl. oz./355 ml) can pink concentrated frozen lemonade
- ½ cup (120 ml) sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco López)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) maraschino cherry juice (from jar)
- 4 tbsp whipped cream Garnish: coconut flakes and maraschino cherries
Add all ingredients except whipped cream to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a soda fountain (milkshake) glass, top with whipped cream, and garnish. Serve with a straw. Invite over your very best Barbies, and enjoy.
Trixie Mattel
Trixie Mattel’s schedule is a lot like her makeup—all over the place! At any given moment, she might be promoting a New York Times bestselling book, retrofitting a Palm Springs motel, or working with frequent collaborator Katya Zamolodchikova on their latest web series or world tour. At this point, the fact that she won the third season of All Stars is practically an afterthought. Born Brian Michael Firkus, this queen rather iconically chose his first name as something of a fuck-you to his homophobic stepfather—who called him “a Trixie” anytime he acted effeminate. Trixie’s last name and overall look stem from a less traumatic source: his deep (if somewhat questionable) love of all things Barbie.
A life-size, mod-era Barbie doll and self-described “skinny legend,” Trixie is quick with a quip. “I like my men like I like my coffee,” she said during an episode of All Stars in 2018, “Incapable of loving me back.” Like any good comedian, she also knows how to spin her suffering into spools of gold for the enjoyment of others. “I’m not gay because my dad touched me, I’m gay because I loved it,” she said in her 2019 documentary Moving Parts, before deadpanning: “I’m kidding, I didn’t have a dad.”
Trixie had been writing songs since she was thirteen, but failed to gain much traction until she started performing in drag. “Being a white guy with a guitar was, as it turns out, not that special,” she joked during an NPR interview. Being a white guy with an autoharp, a wig, and some solid one-liners, though, was apparently the secret sauce she needed—and her career took off. Today, a Trixie performance is truly unparalleled among the queendom. She breathlessly switches from lip sync to comedy routine, to plucking an assortment of stringed instruments while singing original music—and is the most successful recording artist to emerge from the Drag Race galaxy.
Just like Trixie, this spiked milkshake is sweet, pink, and full of cream. Channel your inner soda jerk and whip up a batch for your next Tupperware party.
