Halloween Cocktails

Halloween isn't all about trick or treating, pumpkins or children's plastic masks. It's an excuse for a party, and what better way to jazz up a Halloween party with some themed cocktails? Warning - not for the faint-hearted.

Blood Martini

If you like to taste your alcohol (yum), then a Martini is for you. Made famous through the Bond character, this drink is given a little Halloween twist. Normally made with gin and vermouth, this is a version of a vodka martini that tastes a bit fruitier. Add variations to it using red vermouth, cranberry juice, or sloe gin.

• ½ fl oz. of Chambord
• 2 ½ fl oz. of vodka
• ½ fl oz. of crème de cassis

Give these a quick shake in the cocktail shaker with ice. Serve chilled in a martini glass. If you want a long drink, top up with pomegranate juice to keep the blood red colour and then serve in a highball glass.

Ghost

• 1 ½ fl oz. of vanilla-infused vodka
• ¼ fl oz. of Kahlua or other chocolatey liqueur
• ¼ fl oz. of single cream
• ¼ fl oz. of sugar syrup

Fill shaker with ice. Shake all ingredients together. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Jack O’Lantern

• 2 fl oz. Jack Daniels or other whisky of choice
• Dash of orange bitters or Cointreau
• ½ fl oz. of lemon juice
• Top up with ginger ale and/or orange juice.

Serve on the rocks in a Collins glass.

Frog in a Blender: Halloween Punch

Vodka, lime juice and cranberry juice (mix amounts at your own discretion). Blend lots of fruit loosely with ice so that it’s still very bitty. Whack into the punch and serve with some sort of sieving implement so that guests can have as much or as little bits of ‘frog’ in their drink as they want.

Devil’s Juice

Kind of derivative of a Bloody Mary, this is a mocktail for the designated drivers amongst you.

• 3 fl oz. cranberry juice
• 3 fl oz. tomato juice
• 1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 dashes black pepper
• Dash of salt

Mix all of the ingredients together in a mixing glass. To serve pour into a glass over ice.

Ideas for Garnishes

• Halloween Olives: Using large, unpitted black or green olives, carve a face into them as you would a pumpkin. Toothpick or other small instrument necessary!

• Eyeballs: Get some pickled onions and bore a small hole into them. Put tiny bits of fruit or olive into the hole. Alternatively, use radishes instead of pickled onions for that bloodshot look. Cover with water in an ice cube tray and freeze, then pop into the drinks when ready to serve.

• Spiderweb glass: This one is a bit more fiddly. Melt some chocolate gently over a low heat, being careful not to burn it, and then scrape into a squeezy bottle or small piping bag. Decorate the inside of a chilled martini glass in a spiderweb pattern and put back in the fridge so the chocolate hardens.

• Creepy crawlies: Freeze things like Haribo jelly snakes or little plastic spiders in an ice cube tray.

• Floating hands: Fill up latex gloves with water, tie tightly, and freeze. When ready to put in the punch bowl, run warm water gently over the gloves and peel them off. It’s fine if they break up a bit. Add food colouring to the water to make your punch look even more ghoulish!

General tips

It’s all in the serving. Serve punch in a cauldron, put plastic insects into any drink, add red or green food colouring to ANYTHING (similarly, use black vodka or black Sambuca to make any drink look particularly evil) or hang jelly snakes off a glass as a stirrer. Adding frothy egg white to any drink doesn’t change the taste at all but gives it a slight bubbly texture and makes the drink look like a potion.

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