Spooky season is officially here, and its celebratory culmination, Halloween, is right around the corner. Whether you undertake the holiday lightheartedly or with a taste for the terrifying, Halloween undisputably marks a turning point in the year. Even if you live somewhere the weather does not shift, it’s likely your mindset does—to thoughts of harvest and the fallow season, as in the days of old, end-of-year celebrations with family and friends or planning for the year to come. However Halloween finds you, it seems to harness a collective energy during the autumnal turn, conjuring impish impulse for decoration, parties, costumes, and communing with nature.
What a freaking great opportunity to make a themed cocktail.
Having a theme in mind when creating a cocktail or cocktail list—whether for a menu, a special event, or even a movie night in—is an endlessly enjoyable exercise in getting the creative juices flowing. Seasonality alone can spark inspiration (spring and summer certainly elicit visions of fresh produce while winter begs for baking spice), but a theme (and it can be anything, from your favorite film or artist to a building or historical era…you name it) allows you to explore drink making from fresh angles and glean inspiration from places of surprise and delight. This approach opens infinite avenues of cocktail variation while imbuing drinks with palpable intention. Your guests will feel it, even when they’re not conscious that they are experiencing your story—and becoming a part of it—with every sip. Witchy, no?
So, we’re taking advantage of one of the most inspiration-rich holidays, Halloween, to create some monstrously motif-driven cocktails. While we’re at it, let’s review a few tips on how to apply this thematic approach to cocktailing year-round:
• Don’t feel like you must create a new drink from scratch; slight amendments to classic recipes are often the most effective way to illustrate your idea.
• Lean on seasonal ingredients but consider showcasing them in surprising ways…
• …or feature an unusual seasonal flavor but pair it with something familiar (to tempt even your least-adventurous guests).
• Puns are your friend; a little word play in a drink name goes a long way toward evoking an idea. (But don’t make your references too obscure if you want everyone to be in on the joke.)
• Consider color for visual impact. (Ideally achieved as naturally as possible.)
• Use garnishes or glassware to do the heavy lifting in the drama department.
Let’s look at some examples of these ideas in action:
Black Manhattan Riff
The drama of this cocktail is hinted at in the name—a Black Manhattan. Attributed to bartender Todd Smith while working at Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco in 2005, this modern classic subs the sweet vermouth in a traditional Manhattan with amaro, deepening the cocktail’s ruby-red hue while lending a bitter touch to its brown-and-boozy character. This is an easy recipe with which to try on different amari, and for our version, we’ve chosen a rabarbaro-inspired elixir from Eda Rhyne in North Carolina, leaning into the almost-folkloric vibes of the classic Appalachian medicinal ingredients celebrated by the brand. The drink’s color, combined with a craft-inspired garnish, needs only a playful riff on the original name to take it to the next, bewitching level.
The Black Phillip Manhattan
- 2 oz Pinhook Flagship Rye
- 1 oz Eda Rhyne Amaro Oscura
- .25 oz Albero d’Oro Cherry Juice
- 1 dsh King Floyd’s Chocolate Bitters
- 1 dsh King Floyd’s Orange Bitters
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and stir with ice. Strain into a Nick & Nora or coupe and garnish with a skewered Albero d’Oro cherry and a woven orange pigtail.
Pumpkin Colada
If a drink or flavor is commonly served one way, try flipping it on its head. For example, try hot chocolate repurposed as a cream-based drink, like a White Russian, or apple pie flavors in an Old Fashioned variation. Offer people culinary notes they intuitively associate with an idea or time of year but transposed into something new.
Nothing screams “Halloween” more than pumpkin, as proven by the Jack-o’-lantern on every porch or stoop in town. And pumpkin, as a flavor, pairs easily with an array of spices and other fruit and vegetables (think orange juice, ginger, carrot). As it turns out, coconut is also a very friendly ingredient, and the Piña Colada, as a template, is a great vehicle for highlighting all sorts of focus flavors while bringing a tropical/escapist sensibility to even the colder months of the year.
So why not a pumpkin colada inspired by the season’s favorite spiced latte? And to top things off, how about a showstopping, flammable garnish? Fire is a core component of the magical practices associated with this time of year, and instead of a candle inside our Jack-o’-lantern, we can employ a classic bit of flair from the world of tiki: 1) Invert a lime shell by juicing a half-lime with a hand juicer and flipping it inside out, being careful not to tear the edges or create holes. 2) Inside the shell, place a sugar cube soaked in overproof rum (100 proof or above). 3) Place the lime shell on top of the colada and light with a match. Make sure you have no straws or flammable garnishes in the mix. 3) Optional: Dash a light dusting of ground cinnamon over the flame and watch it spark while giving thanks to the forest gods and setting intentions for the coming months. 4) Blow the fire out gently before drinking.
Jack-o’-latte
- 1.5 oz Diamond Reserve Spiced Rum
- .5 oz Worthy Park Overproof Jamaican Rum
- .5 oz Santa Maria al Monte Caffe Ligure Coffee Liqueur
- .5 oz Lustau Oloroso ‘Don Nuño’ Sherry
- .25 oz Apologue Carrot Root Liqueur
- .25 oz lime juice
- 3 oz coco-pumpkin mix*
*Coco-pumpkin mix (Measuring 1 part as 1 ounce will yield enough mix for for 4 servings)
- 2 parts coconut cream
- 2 parts coconut milk
- 4 parts pumpkin puree
- 3 parts Liber & Co. Demerara Gum Syrup
- 1 part Liber & Co. Cinnamon Syrup
Combine ingredients in a mixing tin and whip shake with two cubes of ice. Pour over cracked ice into a high ball or double rocks glass and garnish with an inverted lime shell and overproof-rum-soaked sugar cube. To serve, light the sugar cube and dust with cinnamon powder before blowing out (optional).
Beet & Grapefruit Gimlet
Root vegetables are a cold-weather staple, evoking autumn thoughts as surely as falling leaves. Beetroots, specifically, are at the height of their season as the first fall frosts take hold. Citrus fruits are also reaching their peak flavor, with the best produce arriving November through March; refreshing citrus-driven drinks may seem most intuitive during summer, but really, this is an excellent time to enjoy some sunshine in a glass.
By combining earthy, sweet beet juice with fresh grapefruit in a Gin Gimlet, we get a sour tailormade for fall with a color that will rouse even the most diehard Halloween naysayers. And though beet may not be the first ingredient you think of for a Gimlet, by combining it with familiar elements, like grapefruit and juniper, in a popular drink style, your guests may feel more compelled to flirt with the unusual while staying safe in their comfort zones (with the windows securely fastened, of course).
Beeting Heart Gimlet
- 2 oz Neversink Pigeon New York Dry Gin
- 1 oz El Guapo Lime Cordial
- .75 oz beet juice (fresh or a quality canned beet juice)
- .5 oz Liber & Co. Rio Red Grapefruit Cordial
- 1 pc lemon peel
Combine ingredients in a mixing tin and shake with ice. Strain into a coupe half-rimmed with celery-spiced salt*.
*Celery-Spiced Salt Rim
- 1 part ground celery seed
- 1 part ground coriander
- 4 parts fine Kosher salt
- 6 parts white sugar
Spicy Smash
A classic Smash is much like a Julep, combining spirit, mint, and sugar. Dale DeGroff reimagined the drink in the 1990s by adding citrus and liqueur, and this template has persisted due to its versatility, bending to any time of year or hero flavor. In this instance, it provided the opportunity for an irresistible name pun, and we worked the recipe backward from there, incorporating savory aquavit and a kick of electric spice to bring the drink “to life.”
The Monster Smash
- 2 oz Brennivín Aquavit
- .5 oz Contratto Bitter
- .25 oz J.M Sirop de Canne
- 1 tsp Giffard Apricot Liqueur
- 2 dsh King Floyd’s Green Chili Bitters
- 3 lemon 8ths
- 1 sprig mint
Combine lemon pieces, mint, and bitters in a mixing tin and muddle. Add remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Double-strain into a rocks glass over ice and garnish with a mint sprig and “lightening bolt” lemon peel.
Ready to conjure up something of your own? Whether you’re mixing drinks at home or building a seasonal cocktail menu, use these four recipes as inspiration for your next Halloween gathering.
Find the full roundup of featured products on SevenFiftyDaily, and let the experimenting begin.
