Ancient horrors and Hollywood’s scariest have the spotlight: we have taken inspiration from the meanest and the spookiest monsters for a spirited special filled with Halloween cocktails so prepare to mix and shake drinks that will echo marine behemoths, eerie wanderers and other supernatural creatures…
No need to wait until the end of the month to treat yourself and guests to these tipples, but if you do, they’ll be brilliant Halloween cocktails for your party. Scroll down and face your tastiest fears…
Release this sea monster’s power by giving the popular recipe a twist. We couldn’t resist the temptation of using the perfect rum for this themed drink: The Kraken Black Spiced Rum (available at O’Briens Wine Shop at €35).
Ingredients:
– 2 oz Kraken Black Spiced Rum
– 1/2 oz Lime juice
– 3 oz Ginger Beer
– Wedge of lime
Method:
1. Fill a glass with ice cubes, add the rum.
2. Pour the ginger beer and top up with the lime juice.
3. Garnish with the wedge of lime.
While tempted to turn him into a Bloody Mary, truth is, vampires are not really brunch people (with the sun burning them and everything, you know). So instead, a Sangrita (Spanish for “little blood”) made more sense. This is a two-part drink, consisting on a shot called “caballito” (little horse) accompanied by a shot of tequila. They are meant to be drunk in alternating sips, not one chasing the other!
Ingredients (Makes 5 servings):
– 3 Shots of tomato juice
– 1 Shot of orange juice
– 1/2 lemon juice
– Dash of Worcester sauce
– Dash of Tabasco
– 1/4 of a small onion, chopped
– 1 Jalapeño (optional)
– 5 Shots of white tequila
Method:
1. To make the “caballito”, blend together all the ingredients except the tequila.
2. Serve it on salt rimmed shot glasses.
3. Present accompanied by a shot of white tequila
Who you gonna call? Nope, not Ghostbusters, you’ll call into your nearest off licence to get some vodka for a delicious dessert drink that channels the film’s monstrously fluffy Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Ingredients:
– 2 oz Marshmallow infused vodka
– 2 oz of Baileys Cream Liqueur
– 1 oz chocolate milk
– Grounded Graham crackers
– Marshmallows
Method:
1. Rim the borders of a coup glass with ground graham crackers.
2. Shake the marshmallow vodka and the Baileys on a mixer with ice and strain into the glass.
3. Top with marshmallows, flame them before serving.
When he sees the full moon, he’s no longer a man… The lycanthrope shape-shifts into his canine form and goes out for a hunt. In honour of the trigger of his transformation and the wild forest he surely hides in, let us mix Poitín into a herbal cocktail. The grain spirit, once known as an Irish moonshine, offers depth and intensity. We liked Micil Poitín (available at Celtic Whiskey Shop, €38.99).
Ingredients:
– 1 1/2 oz Micil Poitín
– 1 Teaspoon honey
– Dash of thyme tincture
– Fresh rosemary sprig
– Maxi-ice (ideally spherical for a full Moon effect)
– 1 oz Soda water
Method:
1. Pour the poitín on a lowball glass and add the thyme tincture (to make at home, infuse fresh leaves on a neutral spirit for at least two weeks).
2. Add the honey and stir gently.
3. Place the fresh rosemary and add a large sphere of ice.
4. Top with the soda water.
This was an easy one, as the legendary ghost ship that is doomed to sail the oceans for eternity already has a cocktail named after itself. The story goes, it was given to the infamous Davy Jones by the sea goddess Calypso and it had the mission of ferrying the souls of those who died at sea into the other world.
Ingredients:
– 1 1/4 oz Bols Genever
– 3/4 oz Benedictine
– 3/4 oz Chartreuse
– 3/4 oz lemon juice
– Twist of lime
Method:
1. Add ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake.
2. Strain into a coupe glass.
3. Garnish with a lime twist.
This urban legend has been “spotted” all across the Americas doing what it does best, which is sucking the blood of livestock, especially goats (after all, its name is a portmanteau of the Spanish for suck -chupa- and goat -cabra-). Creepy, isn’t it? Well, this blood orange version of a Margarita is definitively less scary.
Ingredients:
– 1 1/2 oz White tequila
– 1/2 oz Cointreau
– 1/2 oz agave syrup
– 1/2 Lime juice
– 1 oz Blood orange juice
– Slice of blood orange (garnish)
Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients except the garnish in a shaker with ice and shake.
2. Strain into a salt-rimmed glass.
3. Garnish with a slice of blood orange.
What is Halloween without some good old pumpkin carving? This drink is filled with autumnal flavours and inspired by the tale of a soldier who lost his head and terrifies the villagers in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. While he never wears a pumpkin in the original story, he is often depicted as riding a horse and holding a Jack o’ Lantern in place of his missing head.
Ingredients:
– 2 oz Bourbon
– 1/2 oz Grand Marnier
– 1 oz pumpkin puree
– 1 oz tangerine juice
– Wedge or orange (garnish)
– Grounded clove
Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients except the garnish and the clove in a cocktail shaker and shake
2. Strain into a glass with ice cubes.
3. Garnish with a slice of orange and sprinkle a pinch of clove.
Gabriela’s passion for writing is only matched by her love for food and wine. Journalist, confectioner and sommelier, she fell in love with Ireland years ago and moved from Venezuela to Dublin in 2014.
Since then, she has written about and worked in the local food scene, and she’s determined to discover and share the different traditions, flavours and places that have led Irish food and drink to fascinate her.
Gabriela Guédez Gabriela Guédez