Spooky Wines & Creepy Cocktails!

Good Day, Groupies! Today’s episode is somewhat haunted. Its focus is on wines and cocktails that will make your Halloween festivities frightfully fun and entertaining! Join us as we offer various ghoulish suggestions and along the way, there just may be a few ghosts, monsters and werewolves that chime in!

And here is a list of the “Creepy Cocktails” mentioned on the podcast episode so that you may mix to your heart’s content!

1. Jekyll & Gin
This drink will mess with your head—and that’s even before the alcohol hits your bloodstream.
INGREDIENTS
3 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1 tsp. grenadine
1 handful ice
tonic water

DIRECTIONS
Mix gin, lemon juice and grenadine in a cocktail shaker; pour into a large glass filled with ice. Top with tonic water. Garnish with a glow stick (optional).

2. Black Magic Margaritas
Meet some scary good margaritas.
INGREDIENTS
1/3 c. Black sanding sugar
2 c. ice
4 oz. silver tequilla
2 oz. triple sec
1/2 c. lime juice
red food coloring
Blue food coloring
green food coloring
lime slices, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Rim two glasses with a lime slice and dip in the black sanding sugar.
Divide tequila, triple sec, and lime juice between two glasses and stir to combine. Add food coloring until desired black color is achieved.
Add ice and garnish with a slice of lime. Serve.

3. Sweet Poison Cocktail
At the Jekyll and Hyde Club in New York, it’s always Halloween, but on Oct. 31st, it’s one of the hottest spots to be in Manhattan. This is one of the bartender’s top five scary-good cocktails.

INGREDIENTS
1 oz. light rum
2 oz. coconut rum
1 oz. Blue Curacao
1 handful ice
pineapple juice
Pineapple wedge (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS
Combine both rums and Blue Curacao in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake, then pour into a cocktail glass. Fill the rest of the glass with chilled pineapple juice. Garnish with a pineapple wedge.

4. The Zombie Cocktail
This drink is deceptively potent, thanks to the shot of Bacardi 151 rum floating on top.
INGREDIENTS
1 oz. light rum
1 oz. dark rum
1 oz. apricot liquor
2 oz. orange juice
1 dash lime Bitters
1 handful ice
1 oz. Bacardi 151 Rum
orange slice and cherry, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Combine light rum, dark rum, apricot liquor, orange juice, and bitters using a cocktail shaker. Pour into a large glass filled with ice. Top with the shot of Bacardi 151, then garnish with the orange slice and cherry.

5. The Risen from the Grave Cocktail
If the thought of swilling vodka and St. Germain seems intense for your first sip, give the drink a swirl with your straw to mix in the strawberry puree.
INGREDIENTS
3 oz. Absolut Citron vodka
2 oz. St. Germain
1 handful ice
1/4 oz. strawberry puree
Strawberry and mint leaf (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS
Combine the vodka and St. Germain in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake.
Pour strawberry puree into the bottom of a martini glass. Top with the vodka-St. Germain combination.
Garnish drink with a strawberry and a mint leaf.

6. The Witch’s Heart
If you want to create a mic drop moment at your Halloween party, this cocktail is the way.
INGREDIENTS
1 jigger apple brandy or apple vodka chilled
1 tsp grenadine
2 jiggers (or to top up) Homemade Blackberry Shimmery Liqueur (see notes) chilled
Powdered dry ice optional
Martini glass to serve

Directions
Add about 1/2 – 1 tsp of powdered dry ice to the bottom of the glass (optional).
Place the apple brandy and purple shimmery liqueur in a shaker. Add 1 ice cube and shake for a few seconds to chill the drink. Strain the drink into a martini glass. Top up with more purple shimmery liqueur if necessary.
Pour 1 tsp of grenadine syrup, about an inch from the surface of the drink – the grenadine should sink to the bottom, creating a “bleeding” effect.
Add about 1/2 tsp of powdered dry ice on top and serve with a stirrer, so that your guests can stir the “potion” to create that shimmery, smoky effect

7. The Caramel Apple
Nothing says autumn like a sweet caramel apple. This cocktail is a grown-up take on a childhood seasonal favourite and can be served warm or chilled.
INGREDIENTS:
50ml apple juice
50ml Two Birds Salted Caramel Vodka
25ml Teichenne Butterscotch Schnapps
Ice
Caramel sauce
Brown sugar

Apple slices for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Place caramel sauce in a flat-bottomed, shallow bowl. Dip the rim of a cocktail glass in caramel sauce and then in the sugar. Set aside.

Place apple juice, caramel vodka, and butterscotch liqueur in a cocktail shaker filled 2/3 with ice. Shake until cold (about 20 seconds). Strain the cocktail into the cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh apple slice on the side of the glass and serve.
Note: For a warm cocktail: Heat the apple juice to a simmer. Place the caramel vodka and butterscotch liqueur in the prepared glass. Pour the hot apple juice in the glass and garnish with a fresh apple slice to serve.

8. Pumpkin Spice Halloween Punch
Pumpkin pie spice and apple cider lend autumnal flavour to this Halloween take on classic sangria. Serve in a hollowed-out pumpkin for a dramatic presentation.

INGREDIENTS:
2 apples
2 pears
1 orange
1 tablespoon lemon juice
60ml honey
60ml brown sugar, or more to taste
240ml bourbon
620ml apple cider
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 bottles pinot grigio, chilled
1 pumpkin, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Thinly slice apples, pears and oranges lengthwise, then place in a large bowl. Coat with lemon juice to prevent browning. Add honey, brown sugar, bourbon, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice, stirring gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours, or overnight. Top with chilled pinot grigio and serve.

For Serving: Serve in a pitcher or punch bowl, or give the punch extra Halloween flavour by serving inside a Jack O’ Lantern. Cut a circle in the top of a large pumpkin, then completely remove seeds and pulp. Fill with the fruit and punch, then enjoy!

9. Sleepy Hollow Cocktail
Smokey mezcal is blended with spiced Scottish Rum to bring together autumn’s flavours. To finish the drink, try lighting up a sprig of rosemary and awaken the spirits of the night… Makes one.

INGREDIENTS:
15ml absinthe
60ml mezcal
30ml Dark matter spiced rum
2 dashes angostura orange bitters
Rosemary sprig, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Pour absinthe into a rocks glass; swirl to coat, and discard liqueur.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, then add mezcal, rum, and 2 dashes of bitters. Stir gently for about 10-15 seconds. Strain cocktail into a glass over cubed ice. Light rosemary with until it’s gently smoking and place it in the glass. Serve immediately.

10. The Jack Torrance
Inspired by “The Shining”, this classically-styled, aromatic rum cocktail is meant for sipping.
INGREDIENTS:
45ml white rum
20ml Apple Liqueur
20ml Dark Matter Spiced Rum
2 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
Orange Zest

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a coupe glass. Add bitters. Garnish with orange zest.
Adapted from a recipe via DesignLoveFest.com

11. The Red Queen
A twist on a gin-based Cosmopolitan inspired by the dark side of Alice in Wonderland and the ominous ‘drink me’ potions. A deep ruby red which looks beautiful, capricious and just a little bit dangerous. Makes 2.

INGREDIENTS:
100ml cranberry juice
80ml Hendrick’s gi
40ml St Germain Elderflower liqueur
Juice of 1/2 lemon
fresh cranberries threaded on cocktail sticks to garnish
DIRECTIONS:
Fill a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice and add all the ingredients (apart from the fresh cranberries). Shake until a frost forms on the shaker – about 30 seconds.
Pour into a chilled martini or coupe glass and garnish with the fresh cranberries.

12. Bailey’s Pumpkin Patch
Hosting a party and need a drink recipe for a crowd? This Baileys Pumpkin Spice punch is for you. It’s An easy, deliciously sweet cocktail with notes of pumpkin, sweet cinnamon, baking spices, vanilla and coffee. Makes 10.

INGREDIENTS:
450ml Baileys Pumpkin Spice Irish Cream Liqueur
450ml milk
125ml Bulleit Bourbon
vanilla extract to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all the ingredients in a punch bowl. Make sugar rims on the glasses with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Serve punch over ice.

13. Morgue-A-Rita
Want to know a secret? Sometimes presentation is the way to make a cocktail spooky, like serving these morgue-a-ritas on a silver tray with coroner’s tools!
This one is extremely easy to make because it’s your basic margarita only with a little food coloring added.