Words by Calum Ecroyd
Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! Halloween is very nearly upon us, and these drinks are perfect to feel the chill. Swamp juice or witch’s brews, which will you choose? Pick your poison below!
The Black Widow
Stare into the abyss with this striking Black Widow cocktail. As you put it to your lips you won’t know what to expect, but it’s actually surprisingly sweet and fruity. Scary at first but after tasting you’ll want to drink these deep into the witching hours!
Ingredients
30ml Crème de cassis
40ml vodka (black if you have it)
25ml ginger beer
0.5tsp activated charcoal (optional)
Black food colouring (optional)
Blackberries (garnish)
Method
Your aim is here to achieve that jet black colour and there are a few ways to do that. Black vodka rather than clear is obviously great if you have it. If not, black food colouring works perfectly and lastly, there’s activated charcoal which creates the deepest black. Other than that, you just need to shake everything except the ginger beer. Pour it over ice, top it up with ginger beer, and garnish with a blackberry. Simple!
Monster Milk
Freshly squeezed from the depths of hell is Monster Milk. A disgusting name sure, but a delicious drink. It’s a milky sweet base with spiced rum at the heart of it because this is no ordinary milk, it’s monster milk!
Ingredients
80ml milk
35ml spiced rum
Dash of bitters (preferably chocolate)
0.25tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbsp of syrup
15ml cream (optional)
Method
Frighteningly simple – shake everything with ice and pour!
Top Tip: If you want Hot Monster Milk, then you just need to heat up the milk before adding!
Death in the Afternoon
Created by Ernest Hemmingway himself in 1935, this bubbling cocktail contains only two ingredients. The luminescent green of the absinthe with champagne bubbling through it makes it look like something that’s come straight out of an evil laboratory… come to think of it, it would look even better if you got hold of some dry ice!
Ingredients
35ml green absinthe
100ml Champagne
Method
Add your absinthe and then add your ice-cold bubbly. That’s it! Voila!
Pumpkin Martini
It wouldn’t be a Halloween party without pumpkin present! The flavour can be a little love or hate, so it’s probably not best for a massive batch unless you’re partying with a Pumpkin Fan Club. It’s creamy, earthy, and delicately sweet with a tasty crunch to finish.
Ingredients
50ml vodka
15ml cream
10ml syrup
2tbsp pumpkin puree
¼ tsp of pumpkin pie spice (optional)
¼ tsp of vanilla extract
Crushed biscuit (garnish)
Method
It’s spookily simple this one. Just shake all ingredients thoroughly with a large handful (werewolf sized) of ice. Strain the mix into your martini glass. Rub the rim with a light coating of maple syrup and add crushed biscuit around it.
Witch’s Brew
A colour changing cocktail to stun your guests! The key to this is the colour changing gin which you might think is difficult to find, but they have exploded in popularity recently and so are pretty easy to track down. A classic from any Witch’s recipe book.
Ingredients
60ml colour changing gin
25ml blue Curacao
Dash of lemon juice
Top up with flavoured tonic
Method
Fill your glass with crushed ice, blue Curacao, and a squeeze of lemon. Now the showstopper – gather your guests and slowly pour in the magical gin. Ta-da! Top up with your favourite tonic (raspberry works well), and repeat your trick for the inevitable queue that will have formed!
Swamp Juice
There’s nothing better than a glass of swamp juice on Halloween is there? Especially when the swamp is made from whisky and cider! Also lurking beneath the surface is lemon juice to shock you into life and an egg white for true sliminess. It’s the best tasting swamp around if you ask us!
Ingredients
45ml bourbon
45ml apple cider
Juice of 1 lemon
15ml syrup
1 tbsp egg white
0.5tsp of green food colouring (optional)
Method
There’s nothing fancy about a swamp so throw everything into a cocktail shaker with some ice. Strain into your glass over ice to finish. Bottoms up!
Bloody Pomegranate
With the rich darkness of the pomegranate, the froth of the wine, and the pomegranate seeds floating disturbingly, this is a gruesome sight indeed. The taste on the other hand is delicious!
Ingredients
60ml sparkling wine
25ml pomegranate juice
Pomegranate seeds
Method
If you wish, you can freeze the pomegranate juice in ice cubes beforehand or simply pour everything together and add ice. Crush some of the seeds so they’re misshapen and look like something that’s fallen off a zombie.
Top Tip: Continue the ‘blended body’ vibe by adding in a floating eyeball or fake finger if you have them. (Top Tip within a Top Tip – stuff lychees with grapes to create your own eyeballs!)
We’ve kept the above recipes super simple, but you can pretty easily add dry ice for more mystery or even LED ice cubes for extra luminescence. If you need help with the colour changing gin, we’ve written a full article on it here. Check out, ‘5 Easy Halloween Cocktails’ for more easy to make spooktacular cocktails too!
