A toast to goblins and ghouls: Create the spookiest cocktails at home for Halloween
Halloween falls on October 31 and it is the perfect day to bring out your scariest costumes and frighten your friends and neighbours. Here’s how you can whip up some spooky cocktails to add to the fun and spice up the holiday
Halloween is here, and it’s the perfect occasion to whip up some spooky cocktails to go with your scary outfits. As you gear up for your virtual dance and cocktail hour or throw a small bash at home, here’s a cheat sheet on how to leave your friends and family agape with your cocktails.
Stock up on the most ghoulish ingredients
Add special effects to make your cocktails look spooky
Admit it, some of the yum delicious ingredients in your favourite cocktails startle you on a regular day as well. Use that intel! Channelise the inherent features of these elements in making just the right cocktails for your horror fest.
Befriend cranberry juice to make your drink look bloody, add some fake eyeballs made of olives and beetroot. You could even, carve an orange peel in the shape of a pumpkin as a garnish to get the Halloween vibe.
Dress up your cocktails too
Eerie colours and accessories can add to the beauty of a Halloween cocktail
Why should you have all the fun only with outfits? Get your cocktails to join the party by matching them with the theme. Make a colourful cocktail inspired by Pennywise, the clown from IT using ingredients like tomato juice as base and citrus fruits as a garnish.
Go for a bittersweet cocktail in memory of Annabelle like a glass of spiced wine. You can also unleash the Marvel or DC fan in you and make a cocktail based on your favourite character using coloured sugar to make Batman’s logo or use neon food colouring to make your drink look like the Hulk.
Spook the ‘Gram
No matter where you host the party, eventually it makes it to your social media. When you’ve done a great job frightening the friends and fam at your celebrations, why leave the Insta clan out?
Take pictures in low light, zoom in on the cocktail, use a filter that adds to the eeriness, capture it at a slightly tilted angle for that unbalanced Halloween-y effect and focus on the colours to make them stand out. And that’s how you’ll have a perfect Halloween post!
Prep a little
Raise a toast with friends on Halloween
Imagine this. Just as you’re about to whip up your best cocktail, you can’t locate your stirrer or worse, there’s no glass around to pour it in. Bet, you don’t want to be in a position like that.
Indulge in an all-in-one bar kit even if a small one or put together your own, with tools like spoons for stirrers and a tea strainer for straining cocktails. Keep all of them handy at one place with the ingredients, garnishes and glassware, to avoid a wild goose chase in the middle of your mixology.
To pump up the spirit of Halloween, decorate your bar like a dark forest, old house with spider webs or just anything that spooks you out. You could also go all out and set a theme for your bar based on a movie like The Great Gatsby by making your bar all black, red and golden or follow a simple Disney Theme with your favourite characters in the background.
Armour your outfit with a cocktail
Go all out, innovate and come up with the fanciest drinks, but keep some simple cocktails up your sleeve. Find something that represents your look and is easy to put together.
Master at least two such cocktails, make these at a moment’s notice and humble brag through the evening. You could also carry them around as a prop like Captain America with his shield or Harry Potter with his wand.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to go on any expedition for these spooky cocktail recipes. Here are some to get you started, you’re welcome. It’s as easy as #Bacardirumtwo3. Wishing you a bloody good Halloween!
Here are some of my favourite Halloween cocktail recipes:
Bleeding Mojito
Ingredients:
50 ml BACARDÍ Carta Blanca Rum
15 ml Lime juice
10 fresh mint leaves
1.5 tsp powdered sugar
25 ml fresh watermelon juice
A sprig of fresh mint
Glassware: Highball glass
Garnish: Mint sprig
Method:
- Add lime juice, sugar, mint in a tall glass, gently muddle
- Next, half fill the glass with crushed ice, add the rum and stir.
- Top with a splash of watermelon juice and garnish with mint & lime
Blood Moon Cocktail
Blood Moon Cocktail
Ingredients:
60 ml Rum
15 ml Mix fruit jam syrup
60 ml Orange Juice
15 ml Lime juice
Glassware: Tall glass/highball
Garnish: Orange peel, cut like teeth
Method:
- Add all ingredients to a shaker and shake with lots of ice.
- Strain into a tall glass with ice and garnish with orange peel cut like teeth.
- Mix Fruit Jam Syrup – In a bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of mixed fruit jam, 2 tablespoons of warm water.
Tropical Ghost Cocktail
Tropical Ghost Cocktail
Ingredients:
50 ml Rum
75 ml Lychee juice
Top up Ginger Ale
Glassware: Highball/tall glass
Garnish: Lychees with black olives
Method:
- Fill glass with ice. Add the rum, lychee juice and ginger ale.
- Place small round prices of black olives inside the lychees to make them appear as eyes.
Goblin Cocktail
Goblin Cocktail
Ingredients:
50 ml Rum
25 ml Aam Panna Syrup
50 ml Pineapple Juice
15 ml lime juice
Glassware: Coupe glass
Garnish: Salt and chilli powder rim
Method:
- Rim the coupe glass with salt and chilli powder.
- Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake with ice.
- Strain into the coupe glass and serve.
Edited by Asha Chowdary