Do you want to rock and roll all night and drink ombre gin cocktails every day? Iconic arena rock band KISS is celebrating their 50th anniversary with a final farewell tour that began before the pandemic and is wrapping up in 2023. But the band is also celebrating their golden anniversary with a specialty cocktail called the “It’s Cold Gin Time Again” (a nod to the hit song), which will be garnished with different guitar picks all month at KISS’ chain of casual-dining restaurants, Rock & Brews.
“We’re three generations in at this point and it's pretty phenomenal,” KISS cofounder and front man Paul Stanley said. “We started this as young guys with a big dream, and here we are, five decades later, still pulling thousands of people to our shows.”
In celebration of the band’s longevity, the specialty cocktail is made with KISS’ own brand of gin, elderflower, lemon juice, blue curacao, simple syrup, muddled blueberries and soda water and garnished with black sugar. The ombre drink is blue and red (two of the band’s colors) and is garnished with a different guitar pick from a different member of the band every week this month, starting with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.
“The idea of having a cold gin drink is a tribute to New York, and our early days of the band,” Stanley said. “It’s our own gin which has those classic juniper and citrus and herb notes, and mix it in a way that’s not too different than what we do onstage. […] I’ve always loved the look of a Tequila Sunrise with the colors melding into each other. So you’ve got something that looks great and tastes great, like us.”
He suggests pairing the cocktail with something sweet and spicy like the Maui Wowie pizza topped with pineapple, pepperoni, and jalapeno.
Rock & Brews was first opened in California in 2012 after the band had an interest in opening a rock and roll-themed restaurant, and now has 22 locations, several of which are located in casinos and in airports. Rock & Brews cofounder Adam Goldberg said that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have been involved heavily with the concept from the beginning, from testing the food to playing at location opening ceremonies.
“These guys are not only our cofounders, but they're real partners and take part in breaking ground of new hotels and celebrating grand openings,” Goldberg said. “They make sure that they enjoy what we serve at our restaurants and they give us ideas and critique what we're doing to make sure that it's something that they would be proud of.”
Moving forward, even after the 50th anniversary celebration and tour has ended, Goldberg said they have plans to grow into new markets in 2023 and beyond. The next big store openings will be in Dallas and Milwaukee at the Potawatomi Casino.
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