Five Spirits and Cocktails for Adult Halloween Parties

by David Kiley (RSS feed)
Oct 28th 2010 at 2:01PM

With Halloween falling on a Sunday this year, the night before, sometimes referred to as "Mischief Night", will be ideal for adult parties while the kids prepare to go trick-or-treating, or to parties on Sunday afternoon.

In keeping with the "spirit" of the occasion, here are several good ways to stock a bar for the grown-ups, and prepare for some themed drinks.

Here are recommendations and recipes:

Absinthe:
Reintroduced in the last couple of years to liquor stores, it is a anise flavored distilled spirit, emerald green in color that turns to cloudy opalescent white when mixed with a bit of water, which is traditionally poured over a sugar cube. Known in the 19th century as "The Green Fairy" for its power to bring on hallucinations. It was known to be a favorite of such "dark" artists and writers as Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe and Ernest Hemingway. Lucid is one brand, priced at about $50.00, and packaged in a cool black bottle featuring the eyes of a black cat.

Crystal Head Vodka:
Apprpriately bottled in a crystal skull, you could buy a few to make a real statement at your bar. Price: about $42.00. Here are two recipes to make use of Crystal Head:

Brain Freeze
1 1/2 oz. Crystal Head Vodka, 1 1/2 to 2 oz. Pure lime juice, 1oz. Simple syrup.
Combine all the ingredients with ice in a blender. Blend until ice is well crushed. Serve in a sugar rimed rocks glass garnished with a slice of lime.

Cranium
1 1/2 oz. Crystal Head Vodka, Cranberry juice, Grenadine. Pour Crystal Head vodka and Cranberry juice over ice in a tall glass. Add splash of Grenadine (unstirred) on the top. Garnish with blood orange slice.

Chambord: The raspberry blackberry liqueur is a very handy cocktail ingredient for it's capacity for turning any cocktail blood red. Price: About $26.00. Here are three cocktails sure to make the guests see red:

Black Martini
3 1/2 oz. gin or vodka, 1/2 oz of Chambord, lemon twist for garnish.

Bloodtini
2 oz VeeV Acai Spirit, 1oz of acai juice, 1/2 oz of fresh lime juice, topped off with Champagne and a lime wedge.

Vampire Kiss Martini
1 ½ oz vodka, 1 ½ oz champagne, ¾ oz Chambord, Red sugar.
Take the red sugar and rim a martini glass. Pour the vodka and Chambord into the glass. Top off the drink with the champagne.

Goblin Ghoulade
1 oz Chambord Flavored Vodka,1 oz Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur,
1 oz Roses Lime Juice, 1 oz Cranberry Juice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. if you are feeling really festive. Make a hole in a peeled radish, and insert a blueberry to make an "eye" for garnish. Skewer the eye for added effect.

Brazilian Pumpkin Frappe
1 ½ oz Cabana Cachaça, ½ oz Jamaican Rum, 1 whole egg, ½ oz Half n Half, ½ oz Maple syrup, 2 Dashes Fee's Aromatic bitters, 1 Heaping teaspoon of Organic Pumpkin pie mix. Top with cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg.

HallowRita (Halloween Margarita), making use of the seasonally available Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice Liqueur.
1 part Reposado tequila, 1¼ parts Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice, 3 parts Fresh sour (1 part each lemon & lime juice, 2 parts simple syrup). Salt rim. Combine ingredients in shaker w/ ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into glass w/ ice. Garnish and serve.

Mad Russian
Rasputin, known also as The Mad Russian, is a good character to conjure for Halloween.

1 oz vodka, 1 oz Kahlua coffee liqueur, 1/2 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream, 1/2 oz Butterscotch schnapps, 5-6 oz milk.

Tags: Absinthe, Chambord, Crystal Head Vodka, Edgar Allen Poe, Grenadine, Halloween cocktails, Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice