9 Spooky, Trendy Cocktails to Serve at Your Halloween Gathering
From sweet autumn flavors to eerie presentations, these drinks are definitely a treat.
No Halloween party would be complete without a few hauntingly delicious cocktail options. And you don’t have to be a professional mixologist to craft a drink that sends chills down your guests’ spines. Taking your favorite classic cocktail recipes and incorporating comforting fall flavors and spooky Halloween themes makes creepy libations easy. Here are 10 frightfully refreshing boozy beverages informed by professional cocktail connoisseurs.
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What Makes for a Delicious Halloween Cocktail?
“Halloween is the ultimate time to make warm, brooding cocktails—whether that be warm in temperature or just in flavor profile so that it feels like fall,” says Jake Ireland, founder & CEO of Off Hours Bourbon.
According to Raani Blewitt, marketing director at Solento Tequila, it's an opportunity to
"prepare, serve, or drink something a little out of the ordinary and experiment with ingredients like activated charcoal. The trick with creating the perfect Halloween party cocktail is keeping the ingredients clean but the visuals dynamic.”
Ultimately, going for traditional recipes with a surprising twist and focusing on the presentation take your creepy concoction to the next level. Plus, fall is an abundant harvest season, which means there are many delicious autumnal ingredients to choose from.
Related: DIY Halloween Party Decorations You Can Make Today
“We're big fans of making cocktails with simple ingredients you may already have in your fridge or pantry, which lends itself so well during this season to using ingredients such as apples, pears, and figs in your drinks,” Ireland says.
Other delicious fall flavors to opt for include pumpkin, cranberry, ginger, maple, cinnamon, chai, and even sage, hazelnut, and liquid smoke. Blewitt also adds, ” There's enough sugar involved with Halloween, so using ingredients like organic tequila, cucumber, aloe vera, and charcoal means you can indulge peacefully.”
When it comes to presentation, Ireland prefers to keep it "focused on color or an added taste note or drama.”
The color of your spooky cocktail can set the mood. Stick with the fall theme with reds, oranges, and light browns, or go for more moody colors like deep green, black, or purple. Many of the ingredients naturally achieve these colors, like pumpkin puree, apple cider, and grenadine. However, you can also get creative with the use of spirulina, squid ink, or food coloring.
Let your creativity shine through. If you love decorating for this ghoulish holiday, then the look of the drink may be your favorite part of concocting a themed cocktail. Integrate syringes, candy eyeballs, pumpkin (or regular) candy corn, toy skeletons, and spiders, and serve them in vintage, creepy-looking cocktail glasses or chalices.
Ireland also recommends mixing a fresh fruit with a dried fruit as a garnish or using a smoker for those "Halloween vibes, which also adds to the taste as well.”
"[I like] using items that play into the spookiness of Halloween while still elevating a drink’s flavor profile," Blewitt says. "For example, black salt for a margarita rim or fruits that can look a little eerie, like lychee stuffed with a blueberry or a dark red cherry."
Related: You Need to Incorporate Midnight Calla Lilies into Your Halloween Decor
9 Spooky Cocktails to Serve at Your Halloween Bash
Taking these key Halloween cocktail concepts into account, here's a list of nine boozy drinks sure to impress your guests. Read on to learn all about them—if you dare.
Spooky Sangria
It’s hard to beat the simplicity of sangria when it comes to entertaining a big crowd, as you can make a big batch and serve it in a punch bowl. After making your favorite sangria recipe, add a spooky twist to this classic by filling your punch bowl with fruit like honeydew melon and apples sliced into fun Halloween shapes using cookie cutters.
Dirty Shirleys
If your go-to drink order as a kid (or as an adult, no judgment here) was a Shirley Temple, then you’re definitely going to love a Dirty Shirley. It’s simply two parts vodka to one part grenadine mixed with lemon-lime soda. For the creepy aspect, serve the grenadine mixture in a syringe and place it in a clear glass of soda. When your guests are ready to enjoy, let them mix the drink themselves.
Midnight Margy
“The Midnight Margy is the ultimate elevated-yet-eerie cocktail. Made with Solento Reposado, activated charcoal gives it the drink a dramatic black color while delivering full flavor,” Blewitt says.
The recipe:
Rim a rocks glass with floral salt.
Combine 1 1/2 ounces Solento Reposado, 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice, 1/2 ounce fresh cucumber juice, 1/2 ounce agave, a pinch of activated charcoal, 1/2 an ounce of organic aloe vera juice, and ice.
Shake and strain into the salt-rimmed glass and garnish with an edible flower (preferably a moody color).
Grave Digger
While you can shake up a Grave Digger in many different ways, this TikTok recipe combines blue raspberry vodka, pomegranate juice, and pineapple juice for an irresistibly sweet yet tart cocktail. Plus, the combination of these three ingredients yields a chilling gray-black color.
Off Hours Bourbon Apple Cider Whiskey Smash
“My favorite is the Off Hours Bourbon Apple Cider Whiskey Smash," Ireland says. "It mixes a warming bourbon with an essential fall flavor. The apple cider also can appear a bit cloudy, giving it a themed feel as well."
The recipe:
Add ice to a cocktail shaker.
Add 1 ounce Off Hours Bourbon, 1/2 ounce lemon juice and 4 ounces of apple cider to your cocktail shaker.
Shake until chilled.
Pour over ice and enjoy.
Boozy Butterbeer
Transport your guests to the Three Broomsticks with a boozy Butterbeer. There are different iterations of this recipe online, but generally, you make it by combining cream soda, vanilla vodka, and butterscotch schnapps for a cocktail so sweet you can skip the candy altogether.
Witches' Brew Cocktail
A simple, spiked lemonade take on this classic Halloween cocktail mixes together equal parts vodka, blue curacao, and lemonade. This combination shakes up to create a hauntingly purple color that feels classy and goes with your gothic decor.
Bourbon Caramel Apples
While technically not a cocktail, you can serve our Bourbon Caramel Apples alongside any drink or use them as a sweet garnish. Scoop out the centers of halved Granny Smith apples, brush them with orange juice and place them in the fridge, then heat dulce de leche, bourbon, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan, whisking until you get that caramel consistency.
Frankenstein Pickleback Shots
No Halloween party cocktail compilation would be complete without a shot option. The briny saltiness of a pickleback shot offers contrast to the sweet treats that come with this holiday. To make, combine equal parts pickle juice and either vodka or whiskey. For a festive touch, add a drop of green food coloring and serve them in shot glasses adorned with Frankenstein features using black paint or permanent marker.
Related: 28 Big-Batch Non-Alcoholic and Alcoholic Drinks for Parties
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