BOO! Scary Concoctions for Halloween

By Adam Rains

Halloween tends to bring out the ghoul in all of us and one of the best ways to indulge that spooky mood is with spirited, equally ghoulish cocktails.

12-bottle-bar-bookAt 12bottlebar.com, the cocktail site my husband David Solmonson and I launched in 2009, Halloween has always been a major part of our bibulous year. Some cocktails lend themselves to grisly twists and some of them simply have names that are a perfect fit for this time of year. These drinks were featured on the site prior to this listing, but our book “The 12 Bottle Bar”, featuring over 200 drinks, is available in stores now.

corpse-reviver-shot

Corpse Reviver Shot

The classic Corpse Reviver is a sublimely simple cocktail whose name alone makes it fair game for All Hallow’s Eve. Serving it in a syringe adds an additional freakish touch. Any size syringe from 5cc to 50cc will work (one drink recipe is 120cc). Syringes can be easily purchased in bulk from numerous online medical supply companies.

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz. Brandy
  • 
1 oz. Orange liqueur
  • 1 oz. Lemon juice
  • 
1 dash grenadine

Preparation:

  1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass.
  2. 
Shake with ice, strain into a glass. Load syringes.
  3. Keep syringes on ice.
  4. Scale as needed.

bloodbath

The Bloodbath

This variation on the Bronx/Income Tax Cocktail was created by Australian bartender Simon McGoram, who submitted it to Gaz Regan for inclusion in The Bartender’s Gin Compendium. The drink was seasonal — only available when blood oranges were in season. So, when 12bottlebar.com chronicled the drink, we came upon a variation for the blood oranges, which have a berry-like flavor, and combined raspberries and orange juice instead.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 oz. Gin
  • 
3/4 oz. Dry vermouth
  • 3/4 oz. Spiced sweet vermouth (see below)
  • 2 Cinnamon sticks
  • Handful of cardamom pods
  • 3/4 oz. orange juice
  • 6 Raspberries
  • 
2 dashes Orange bitters

Preparation:

  • Muddle the raspberries with the orange juice and strain through a fine sieve.
  • Add all ingredients to a mixing glass.
  • Shake with ice and strain into a large cocktail glass.

For Spiced Vermouth: Lightly pan toast two cinnamon sticks and a handful of cardamom pods. Add to a mason jar (approximately two cups) of sweet vermouth and let infuse for one day (The original recipe calls for three days, but one seemed to extract plenty of flavor).


toxicolada

Toxicolada

This original 12bottlebar.com recipe is a gooey twist on the classic piña colada. Instead of the usual cream of coconut, coconut water syrup is used to keep the slime from becoming opaque. This version is green to look like slime, but red food coloring could approximate guts.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz. Amber rum
  • 2 oz. Rich coconut water syrup
  • 2 oz. Canned pineapple juice, strained
  • 2 oz. Warm water
  • 1/2 tsp. Psyllium husk powder
  • 2-3 drops Food coloring (green for slime, red for guts, etc.)

Preparation:

  1. Take coconut syrup by dissolving 4 ounces of white sugar into 2 ounces of coconut water over a low flame.
  2. Add psyllium husks powder to the 2ounces warm water, stir, and set aside.
  3. Add rum, syrup, pineapple juice, and food coloring to a large (4 cup) microwave safe bowl, stir to mix, then microwave on high for 30 seconds.
  4. Add a bit of the rum mixture to the psyllium, stir to thin, then add all of the psyllium mixture back into the rum.
  5. Return the bowl to the microwave and cook on high until the mixture begins to boil and almost bubble over.
  6. Stop the microwave, stir the mixture, and heat again, repeating the process (approximately 4-5 times) until the mixture begins to noticeably thicken.
  7. Remove the mixture from the microwave and allow it to cool thoroughly. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

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