Serve up a brilliant range of spooky cocktails at your Halloween party with these devilishly delicious drinks. The perfect way to get into the Halloween spirit, all of these cocktails are inspired by ghosts, ghoulies and things that go bump in the night! With each cocktail recipe, we will recommend the perfect tipple to accompany it and details the recipe and ingredient quantity.
25ml 6 O'clock Gin
25ml sweet vermouth
25ml Campari
Ice
Slice of orange to garnish
Method: Pour the gin, vermouth and Campari into a mixing glass or jug with ice. Stir well until the outside of the glass feels cold. Strain into a tumbler and add 1 large ice sphere or some fresh ice, and garnish with an orange slice, using a blood orange when in season.
With a soft and citrusy flavour, 6 O'clock Gin is strikingly smooth to taste and ideal for a classic negroni. You could also try a flavoured gin such as Caspyn Marmalade Old Tom Gin which is a little sweeter than a London Dry with notes of Seville orange.
21ml Holly's Gin
21ml green Chartreuse
21ml maraschino liqueur
21ml lime juice, freshly squeezed
Garnish: brandied cherry (optional)
Method: Add the gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry (optional).
Why not try Holly's Gin in this Last Word Cocktail. A fresh and vibrant gin with nine botanicals, including Passion Flower, Gentian Root and Orange.
50ml Barbican Botanics Gin
15ml dry vermouth
2 drops homemade fake blood (dissolve 7g of caster sugar into 44g of red liquid food colouring)
Method: Add the gin and vermouth to a cocktail tin filled with ice and stir to dilute. Double strain into a chilled small coupette glass and garnish with 2 drops of the fake blood.
With main botanicals of milk thistle providing earthy notes and fennel seeds providing a strong smooth finish, Barbican Botanics Gin is a small-batch, handcrafted gin that would work well in this cocktail. If you want to omit the fake blood but still give your Nosferatini a bloody finish then a flavoured gin like Tarquin's Rhubarb & Raspberry Gin would be perfect.
50ml Kraken Black Spiced Rum
25ml fresh lime juice, plus a wedge to serve
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
5ml sugar syrup (optional)
100ml chilled Fever-Tree Ginger Ale
Method: Put all the ingredients in a Collins or Highball glass over lots of ice, stir gently and garnish with a wedge of lime.
Kraken Black Spiced Rum would make a great addition to this cocktail. Named for the sea beast of myth and legend, The Kraken is bold, rich, black and smooth.
25ml Captain Morgan Dark Rum
25ml Faraday's Proof White Rum
50ml lime juice
150ml pineapple juice
Ice
1 tsp grenadine
Wedge of orange, maraschino cherries & a mint sprig to garnish
Method: Pour the rums and fruit juices into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake hard until the outside of the shaker feels really cold. Strain the mixture into a tall glass or hurricane glass filled with ice, then slowly pour in the grenadine to colour the drink. Skewer the orange wedge and cherries on a cocktail stick. Garnish the drink with mint sprigs and the skewered fruit.
Captain Morgan Dark Rum and Faraday's Proof White Rum would work well together in this cocktail. The smooth, rich and oaky taste of Captain Morgan Dark Rum would blend beautifully with the fruity, clean and fresh flavour of Faraday's Proof White Rum.
100ml Mermaid Salt Vodka
500ml tomato juice
1 tbsp lemon juice, plus 2 slices to serve
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco
Celery salt
Black pepper
2 celery sticks, to serve
Large handful of ice
Method: Place the ice in a large jug. Measure the vodka, tomato juice and lemon juice and pour it straight onto the ice. Add 3 shakes of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco (or more if you like it very spicy) and a pinch of celery salt and pepper. Stir until the outside of the jug feels cold, then strain the cocktail into 2 tall glasses. Top up with fresh ice, add a celery stick and lemon slice to both glasses and enjoy.
We would recommend using Mermaid Salt Vodka which has been shot through with a pinch of locally sourced sea salt, enhancing its smoothness and accentuating its subtle flavour.
40ml Snawstorm Vodka
80ml pomegranate juice
200ml Fever-Tree Premium Soda Water
Method: Combine the vodka with pomegranate juice. Pour over ice and top with soda water.
Clean and crisp, Snawstorm Vodka is an incredibly smooth vodka with subtle caramel undertones and a fruity twist coming from the single malt barley spirit used in its distillation process.
236ml Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey
118ml Smirnoff Red No.21 Vodka
118ml cherry schnapps
80ml fresh lemon juice
945ml fizzy cherry soda
Method: Pour the cherry schnapps, vodka, whisky and lemon juice into a pitcher. Stir well with a cup of ice. Gently pour in the cherry soda and stir carefully to combine. Either pour into a punch bowl for guests to help themselves or serve in sugar-rimmed glasses with a spooky spider garnish.
The perfect addition to this cocktail, Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey is quite light and smooth with plenty of sweetness. There are hints of dry spice and oily nuts, a touch of smoke.
35ml Maker's Mark Bourbon Whisky
22ml elderflower liqueur
15ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
85ml to 145ml Fever-Tree Ginger Beer
8 dashes bitters
Method: Combine the bourbon, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice in a collins glass filled with ice. Top it off with ginger beer and garnish with bitters.
Maker's Mark Bourbon Whisky is a lighter tasting, premium bourbon whisky with caramel and vanilla notes that is perfect for mixing and delicious over ice.
160ml Jim Beam Honey Whiskey
40ml maple syrup
4 orange slices
4 - 6 splashes bitters
1 sprig rosemary
1 cup ice
Method: Pour the bourbon and maple syrup into a cocktail shaker. Add the ice, orange slices and sprig of rosemary. Shake well for at least 30 seconds. Add the ice to a short whisky glass and strain over the prepared cocktail. Garnish with a fresh stem of rosemary and use a kitchen blow torch or long match to set it on fire.
Sweet but not too sweet, Jim Beam Honey Whiskey has the perfect touch of golden honey allowing its warming sweetness to shine without losing the mellow smoothness of our original bourbon.
