“I never drink…wine,” Bela Lugosi famously said in the classic horror movie Dracula. But he never said anything about cocktails.
So here are six scary drinks you can mix at your haunted house to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve.
Corpse Reviver No. 2
Sounds like it was made for Night of the Living Dead (or the sequel), but it goes way farther back than 1968. The phrase was coined in the mid-19th century to denote any potent morning-after hangover cure. Within a decade, drinkers settled on a mix of brandy, maraschino, and bitters.
The drink really took off in 1930 when its recipe was printed in the renowned Savoy Cocktail Book. Cheers, here it is:
INGREDIENTS
1 oz gin
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz dry vermouth
½ tsp absinthe
INSTRUCTIONS
Put the ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake until cold. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel.
Nightmare on Bourbon Street
If Freddy Krueger comes by, this drink, which was popularized by halfbakedharvest.com, could save your life; or numb your ending.
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ oz bourbon
1 oz lemon juice
¼ cup apple cider
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp grated ginger
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS
Put the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well for 15 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass, add some ice, then top off with sparkling hard apple cider. Garnish with a cinnamon stick, an apple slice or two, and a sprig of rosemary.
Pumpkin Spice Kentucky Mule
If you’re in the mood to watch 1988’s Pumpkinhead, here’s the perfect drink to go with it, courtesy of localbartendingschool.com.
INGREDIENTS
3 oz bourbon
2 tbsp pumpkin butter
4 shakes of cardamon
Ginger beer
INSTRUCTIONS
Add the bourbon and pumpkin butter to a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Add the bitters and top off with ginger beer. Garnish with candied ginger.
Sleepy Hollow
What better tale to curl up with while awaiting Trick-or-Treaters than The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? And what better to sip than this cocktail courtesy of localbartendingschool.com?
INGREDIENTS
¼ cup honey
1 sprig of rosemary
zest from an orange
¼ cup pomegranate juice
2 oz tequila
orange bitters
1 dash of ground cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS
Put the honey and rosemary into ½ cup of water and bring to a boil. Add orange zest, remove from heat, and let the honey syrup cool.
Add pomegranate juice, tequila, bitters, honey syrup and the dash of ground cinnamon to a shaker filled with ice. Shake well, and strain into a rocks glass. Use sparkling water to top off.
Vampire’s Kiss
During its heyday in the 1960s, Hammer Films became famous for its sexy vampires. Like, who wouldn’t want a nibble on the neck from one of those gorgeous creatures? Courtesy of food.com, here’s a way to get a kiss from a vampire without the loss of blood.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz raspberry vodka
2 oz black raspberry liqueur
3 oz cranberry juice
INSTRUCTIONS
Put ice and water into a martini glass to chill. Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Dump the ice water from the glass, then strain the cocktail into it and sharpen your teeth.
Witches Brew
What’s Halloween without witches flying around on their broomsticks? And what better drink to salute them with than this recipe from acouplecooks.com?
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ oz Midori
1 ½ oz Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix the Midori, Cointreau and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Add two handfuls of ice cubes, and stir vigorously until cold. Strain the drink into a lowball glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
Imbibing any of these creepy concoctions just might have you dancing the Monster Mash as you hand out candy this Halloween.