Taylor Swift inspired this steakhouse cocktail. We re-created it.

I’m resigned to the sad fact that I will probably never get to dine at 1587 Prime, the sexy steakhouse fronted by Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce that opened recently.

The joint looks harder to get into than an Ivy League school — tables are booked solid. And alas, I have no insider connection with the owners. But my geographical and social distance don’t have to prevent me from trying the menu item that most intrigues me (and plenty of online gawkers, too, it seems): a cocktail dubbed “The Alchemy,” an ode to Kelce’s fiancée, pop star Taylor Swift.

The $22 drink is listed in the “Players” section of the cocktail menu, which features signature drinks named for Kelce and Mahomes as well as their WAGs (the players’ wives and girlfriends). It bears the name of a song from Swift’s 2024 album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which fans who scrutinize her lyrics like friendship-bracelet-wearing Talmudic scholars have interpreted as a love song to her future husband.

I decided to channel that same investigative energy toward the new drink. The menu describes it merely as “clarified citrus vodka blend, [Pierre Ferrand] dry curaçao, aronia berry, cranberry, strawberry, lime, oolong.” It’s unclear what form the berries take (juice, syrup, garnish?), and, of course, the proportions aren’t listed.

On first read, at least, the drink tracks with what is known about Swift’s cocktail preferences. She’s been spotted at Chiefs games holding a red-tinged beverage — on theme, given the team’s colors — with some speculating it was a vodka-cranberry concoction. It also shares a similar light-but-complex, citrus-tinged profile with the French Blonde, a cocktail that she has reportedly enjoyed at another Kansas City restaurant that consists of gin, the French aperitif Lillet Blanc, St-Germain elderflower liqueur and grapefruit juice.

My attempt to get the official word was a no-go. “We’re unable to share more details/recipe for The Alchemy at the moment,” a flack from the restaurant group Noble 33, which has partnered with Kelce and Mahomes on 1587, told me in response to an email. Now look what she made me do — I would have to do my best to re-create it.

First, I gathered up the visual evidence and descriptions I could find online, then enlisted the help of some cocktail experts. Tiffanie Barriere, a drinks consultant and educator, called the concoction a “modern Cosmo,” which sounded about right, given that many of the Alchemy’s ingredients — vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry and lime — are found in the now-classic cocktail.

The vodka presented my first challenge. Did the use of the word “clarified” apply only to the vodka or the entire drink? Barriere thought it pertained to the spirit. “That’s most likely vodka infused with a mix of citrus (lemon, lime, maybe grapefruit), and then milk-washed or agar-clarified to make it crystal clear,” she said. “It gives brightness without the cloudiness you’d normally get from fresh juice.”

Should I try to make my own? Our Spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan said that many bars use a centrifuge to clarify ingredients, and warned that it might not be worth the effort. “Much as I love it, it’s a pain to execute at home!” she advised. For a store-bought option, she suggested Absolut Citron. Done.

And then there was the not-so-small matter of procuring the Aronia berry, which also is known as the chokeberry and definitely not something I see in my local grocery stores. My experts told me I’d most likely find it in powdered form, possibly at a health food store or even a tea shop, and that it offers a tannic, slightly astringent note.

I tried a few stores, but eventually decided to skip it. Barriere said cranberry and blueberry juice might lend a similar flavor, so I figured the flavor profile would be accounted for already in both the cranberry and the oolong tea.

I determined that for the fruits mentioned, I should go with juices rather than syrups or muddled fruit itself, based on the images online that showed a pink-tinted liquid free of chunky bits, as well as this description from a local reporter who got an early taste: “It was bright and pleasant and daintily tart, but in a way that dissipated in the mouth rather than lingering as with heavy syrups,” she wrote.

I purchased an unsweetened cranberry juice and a slightly sweet strawberry juice, because they were what I could find. If you’re trying this at home, the juice you have will probably vary in sweetness. If your final drink is too tart for your liking, mixologist LP O’Brien suggested adding a simple syrup “to balance out the serve.” You could, she suggested, make a syrup flavored with the oolong tea, something Barriere said might also give it more body.

I was only able to find a premixed, unsweetened oolong tea at my local Trader Joe’s, so I went with that. I shook my ingredients in an ice-filled shaker and poured the mix into a martini glass, adding a fancy coin-style lemon garnish like in the images I had spotted.

I tinkered around with proportions a bit (I used a Cosmo recipe as a jumping-off point) and finally landed on a good balance of tart and sweet, based on the juices I had on hand. The result was refreshing and complex, with the tea adding an earthy backdrop.

I did try — but immediately jettisoned — the theatrical trick that 1587 Prime uses for serving the drink, in which a small puff of steel wool is twined around the base of the glass stem, then lit on fire to create a sparkly effect. Instead of adding a magical moment, it just created an unpleasant smell of singed metal and a messy pile of charred shavings. I’ll pass, but if you’re looking for the authentic experience, go for it.

The homemade concoction might not be the most faithful re-creation, and drinking it in your living room instead of the chic steakhouse where it originated might feel like a consolation prize — like watching the Eras Tour on streaming instead of at an arena.

But it has its pleasures on its own. I’m typically not a vodka drinker, but I was won over — as was my husband, who usually finds Cosmos (his mother’s favorite drink) insipid. “I think I’d actually order this,” he marveled, looking at the pale-pink drink in his hand. To which I might have replied in the words of the cocktail’s muse: “Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?”

• • •

The Almost Alchemy Cocktail

The Alchemy cocktail, an homage to the Taylor Swift song of the same name, features on the menu at 1587 Prime Steakhouse in Kansas City, Missouri, opened by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. The song, which appears on Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” is reportedly written about Kelce, to whom the singer is engaged. While no official recipe has been released, this version is our best guess at a tasty, accessible version of the cocktail, which might remind you of a Cosmopolitan. At the restaurant, the drink is presented atop a small tray in a martini glass, the stem of which is wrapped in steel wool, which is set aflame for a dramatic, theatrical nod to the cocktail's name.

Ice

1½ ounces citrus vodka, such as Absolut Citron

¾ ounce cooled oolong tea (brewed or store-bought)

½ ounce Ferrand dry curaçao

½ ounce pure cranberry juice

½ ounce strawberry juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

Lemon twist, for garnish

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine the vodka, tea, curaçao, and cranberry, strawberry and lime juices. Seal the shaker, and shake to chill and dilute, about 15 seconds. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

Makes 1 drink.

Substitutions: Grand Marnier or triple sec can stand in for Ferrand dry curaçao.

Where to buy: Strawberry juice can be found at specialty markets or Trader Joe’s, where it’s sold as a sparkling version. Pure cranberry juice can be found at well-stocked supermarkets and natural food stores. Ferrand dry curaçao can be found at well-stocked liquor stores.

Nutritional Facts per drink | Calories: 156, Fat: 0 g, Saturated Fat: 0 g, Carbohydrates: 0 g, Sodium: 2 mg, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Protein: 0 g, Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 3 g

— Inspired by the Alchemy cocktail at the 1587 Prime Steakhouse in Kansas City, Missouri