Halloween Theme Cocktails

We made the huge sacrifice to test out several Halloween theme cocktails so we could bring you our opinions. It’s not easy deciding what drinks to serve at any party, but for Halloween, you definitely want to stick with the theme in your mixed drinks.

The Black Martini using just clear vodka in the glass on the left and black colored vodka in the glass on the right

My husband and I tried out 4 different cocktails, and I’m going to show you pictures and give you some ideas for what to serve and how to serve them. The answers to these questions will also be based on how many guests you are having and who will be making the drinks. Will it be you? Did you hire a bartender? Are you having your guests make their own? Will you make the cocktails ahead and gave the guests serve themselves.

Let’s get right to the drinks, shall we? First, I have a disclaimer. A few recipes called for a black vodka. We searched for a black vodka and found that the most popular brand of black vodka is Blavod Premium Black Vodka, which is hard to find and definitely not cheap. Your alternative is to do what we did, which is to take a few drops of black food coloring and add that to clear vodka instead.

Also important for you to know is that these recipes give you brand names of some of the alcohol. For instance, you don’t need to buy the Chambord to make the drinks. You can use a less expensive raspberry liquer, and the same is true for the Cointreau and the Midori. Look around the liquor department to check prices or ask someone in that department of the store to guide you.

The Raspberry Minstrel

The first drink we made was called the Raspberry Minstrel. This takes:

This is the clear vodka with a few drops of black food coloring

This is the Raspberry Minstrel. I think that if you used the real Creme de Cacao instead of the Godiva liquer, like we did, you’d get a deeper, prettier color.

40 ml of black vodka (or clear vodka with a few drops black food coloring}

20 ml Chambord (this is a raspberry liquer)

20 ml Crème de Cacao (a chocolate liquer)

Heavy cream

Stir all ingredients except the cream and strain into chilled glass (no ice). Float a bit of cream on top. This drink tasted really good to me. It tasted like chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. We used a Godiva brand chocolate liquer, however if you use a regular crème de cacao, I think this drink will turn out darker.

the black martini

Next was the Black Martini. This was my husband’s favorite and it’s delicious, so we will be making a pitcher full of this as our signature drink and serving it as the only hard liquor at our party. The recipe is:

¾ oz vodka

¾ oz Cointreau (an orange flavored triple-sec liquer)

1/2 oz Chambord

1-1/2 oz Ocean Spray Cran-Pom juice

½ oz lemon

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake to mix it up and get it cold. Serve in a martini glass. You can add a bit of lemon peel as a garnish.

the blackberry collins

Next we have a Blackberry Collins. This drink is light and refreshing, I think because of the addition of the soda water. We changed the original recipe a bit by adding the blackberry liquer (shown in recipe below), but I think it made a big difference and I highly recommend it. I liked this a lot, but it would have been a difficult drink to serve for a large amount of people.

5 Blackberries

50 ml Black Vodka

25 ml Blackberry Liquer

25 ml Lemon Juice

25 ml Gomme Syrup (we just used a thick simple syrup)

Soda Water

Muddle the berries at the bottom of your cocktail shaker. If you don’t have an actual “muddler”, just use the back of a wooden spoon to start breaking down the berries and releasing some of their juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and a few ice cubes to the shaker and give it a good shaking. Pour into highball glass and add a heavy splash of cold soda water.

the gremlin

And last, but not least, is the Gremlin. I wish we would have chosen this one, just based on the name! I love that! This is a layered drink, and it’s made with Midori, which is a honeydew melon flavored liquer. It is a beautiful green color. I’ve seen several versions of this cocktail while researching for this blog and some use rum and blue curacao instead of the midori and vodka. I will just give you the recipe that we tried and liked.

10 ml Chambord

25 ml Orange Juice

15 ml Midori

25 ml Black Vodka

Add some ice to a highball glass and layer the liquids, beginning with the Chambord and ending with the black vodka. This makes a beautiful presentation, but stir it up before you actually drink it.

I have to mention that this was a fun activity for my husband and me to try out some new cocktails. Just for your information, we didn’t drink everything we made, but we definitely regretted not having invited someone over to the taste testing with us. Next time!

My plan for this is to put the drink in a pitcher or punchbowl and then put that inside a small black cauldron. I’m excited to get to show you how everything comes out. I will take some pictures of things that will hopefully inspire you when you are having your next party.

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