You know, I’ve always found cocktails that memorialize an occasion, or person, to be a bit cheesy and so I rarely partake in “theme” drinking. I found myself in a situation last week when Prince died, that folks who were coming to our already-planned cocktail party that night began asking if I was going to be making any Prince-themed drinks to remember him by.

Drinking and partying in memory of someone who’s passed away is a thing, and people have done it for thousands of years (at least), so I softened to the idea of some themed cocktails, both for the sake of our party guests and because of fun in creating new cocktails! After 3 recipe revisions for each, we got them just right. The first drink we made is the Purple Rain (pictured above).

Purple Rain (by Greg Mays)

• in a shaker, add:
• 2 oz coconut water
• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 1 oz açaí juice
• shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Next up, we made a riff on a Gin Sour by including some muddled raspberries:

Raspberry Beret (by Greg Mays)

• in a shaker, add:
• 5 raspberries
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• muddle the raspberries well, then add:
• 2 oz gin
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1 egg white
• dry shake (no ice), then add ice and shake again to chill
• double strain into an old fashioned glass filled with ice and add 3 raspberries for garnish
• add 2 drops of Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters on the foam

So there you are: 2 simple cocktails you can drink in memory of The Purple One. Cheers!