How To Create Spooky Halloween Cocktails At Home

With Halloween approaching, it is time to have a little fun and experiment in your cocktail laboratory with scary but tasty cocktails that will ease your terror and please your taste buds!

Keeping it simple and scary!

In researching what Halloween cocktail recipes would best fit the mold, I wanted drinks that we did not have to go out and buy an eye of newt or squirrel skull to make the Halloween cocktail embrace the theme of the tradition.

I wanted ingredients that we could easily find and recipes that were not too complicated. With that said, here are a few of my favorite Halloween cocktails you and I may enjoy.

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A Blood Red Manhattan

I love a good Manhattan, I saw this recipe in Good Housekeeping and thought this would be a fun twist on a classic cocktail. It has the look of blood but the taste of a good Manhattan.

Recipe:

2 oz of Rye whiskey

¾ oz of Crème di Cassis

½ oz of sweet vermouth

3 dashes of Angostura bitters

Cocktail cherries for garnish

Directions

Chill martini glass ahead of time in freezer

Fill tumbler with ice, add all ingredients, shake or stir vigorously, strain and pour into chilled martini glass, garnish with cherries. Enjoy your blood Manhattan.

ALSO READ: Jersey Shore town haunts America's spookiest small town list

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The Frankenstein

When I think about Frankenstein, I think dark, creepy, and big. This cocktail has all those factors! USA Today put out a list of their favorite Halloween cocktails, and this stood out to me. It was created by the bar staff at the JW Marriott at the Marco Beach Island Resort. Great recipe.

The only tough ingredient not in your pantry is black salt. It is easy to find and necessary for this cocktail.

Recipe

½ oz of white rum

¾ oz of Midori Melon Liqueur

2 oz of pineapple juice

½ oz of blue Curacao

Black salt to rim the glasses

Dried or small slice of pineapple to garnish

Directions

Fill a shaker with ice, add all ingredients shake vigorously. Salt the rim of the glasses with black salt, add ice, pour shaken ingredients over ice, garnish with dried pineapple or a small slice of pineapple

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The Eye

This is a cool and clever drink and worth the search to find lychees at your supermarket. This is one of USA Today’s favorites, and I must concur. This cocktail was developed by bartender pros at Holland America Line. The floating eye in the glass is a great look, and the ingredients look tasty.

Recipe

¾ oz of rum

½ oz of Amaretto

1 oz of orange juice

1 oz of pineapple juice

1 oz of sweet and sour mix

½ oz of Grenadine

¾ oz of Meyers rum

Fresh blueberries and lychees for garnish

Ice

Directions

Combine everything except the grenadine and Meyers's rum in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Drop the grenadine into the drink, then add a float of Meyers's on top.

To make the "eye" garnish, embed a blueberry inside a lychee and place it in the drink so it "looks" out.

This will be having you mesmerized.

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The Kilkea Wizard

USA Today has another great cocktail that I think we would all enjoy, and the ingredients are readily available at your local liquor and grocery stores. This is a drink that looks dark and ominous, but the ingredients will intrigue our palate. Kilkea Castle’s master mixologist David Pedro created this drink. Excellent job, David, and thanks!

Recipe

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger, plus 1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced

1 bottle (750 ml) prosecco

2 ounces pomegranate juice

3 cups of red or black seedless grapes, divided (per serving)

Directions

Mix the sugar, grated fresh ginger, prosecco, and pomegranate in a large bowl.

Serve in ice-filled glasses garnished with grapes and thinly sliced ginger

These are my favorite Halloween cocktails that I think would be fun for entertaining. Good luck, Happy Halloween and enjoy your cocktails.