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It might be too early to call it, but if we had to guess, the top Halloween costumes of 2020 will be: lab scientist (timely but unfunny), Billie Eilish (the neo-goth mood is fitting and green hair dye is cheap), and...no costume (we're tired, okay). As for the Halloween drinks, those'll reek of the year's desperate conditions: tequila straight, a bottle and a half of cheap red blend, and whatever the hell that three-month-old can of beer is in the back of the fridge. It hasn't been an easy one, folks. And the almost-certain cancellation of most Halloween festivities doesn't bode well for merriment.
However, on the off chance that you'd like to get all gussied up in your Halloween best and throw a socially distant bash or party all by your lonesome, you'll need a worthy cocktail list. This is that list: 15 thematic Halloween cocktails—from classics to new inventions—that will satisfy any ghoul, goblin, or otherwise ghostly manifestation that regularly haunts the bar cart. When in doubt, dunk some candy corn in a G&T. Just make sure you hydrate to avoid a monster hangover in the morning. (That's some Halloween humor for you.)
Brain-Duster
There are few cocktails more mind-addling than the Brain-Duster, what with its use of absinthe on top of whiskey, red vermouth, and bitters. The color is orange-ish, the effect is spooky.
Ingredients
• 1 oz. rye whiskey
• 1 oz. absinthe
• 1 oz. Italian vermouth
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
Directions
1. Stir ingredients well with cracked ice in a mixing glass.
2. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Apple Cider Sangria
More of just a generally good fall cocktail, carry a glass of this in one hand and a Twix bar in the other. Refill often. Apple cider and white wine are seasonal, but for a bloodier concoction, opt for traditional Sangria.
Ingredients
• 1 tart apple (think Granny Smith or McIntosh), sliced and cubed
• 1 sweet apple (like Gala or Fuji), sliced and cubed
• 1 orange, cut into rounds
• 4 cloves
• 2 c. unsweetened apple cider
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1/4 c. spiced rum
• 1 can ginger beer
• 1 bottle white wine (Riesling is best)
• 2 c. ice
Directions
1 Place apples, orange, and cloves into a large pitcher (at least gallon-sized).
2. Drizzle honey over the fruit, then add in apple cider, rum, ginger beer, and white wine. Stir to mix.
3. Top with ice and let chill for 20 minutes before serving.
4. Serve in glasses, including the chunks of fruit.
Flaming Dr. Pepper
Like moths to a flame, people flock to shots on debaucherous nights like Halloween. Tempt them with a shot topped with fire, and they'll swarm. With this shot, half the appeal is the flame, but the other half is the alchemistic change that occurs to make these ingredients taste like Dr. Pepper when mixed together—almost like a potion.
Ingredients
• 3/4 oz. amaretto
• 1/4 oz. rum
• beer
Directions
1. Half-fill a pint glass with beer.
2. Add the amaretto to a shot glass, then slowly float the rum atop it. Set it aflame.
3. Drop the flaming shot in the beer, then drink quickly.
Mexican Zombie
A Zombie is a traditional tiki rum drink that's spooky enough—read: alcoholic enough—to knock you flat; more on it in a moment. This recipe for a Mexican Zombie swaps rum for tequila and mezcal, making it appropriate for all Day of the Dead festivities. Skull cup optional. (Courtesy of Zuma Las Vegas)
Ingredients
• 1 oz. blanco tequila (like Don Julio)
• 1/2 oz. reposado tequila (like Don Julio)
• 1/2 oz. mezcal
• 1/2 oz. Velvet Falernum
• 1/2 oz. passion fruit juice
• 1 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 4 dashes of absinthe
Directions
1. Add the blanco, reposado, mezcal, and Velvet Falernum to a shaker.
2. Mix in the passion fruit, grapefruit, and lime juices, simple syrup, and absinthe.
3. Strain contents into a glass with crushed ice, a lime wheel, and a cinnamon stick (torched until smoky).
Apple Cider Mimosa
The Apple Cider Mimosa is a fall seasonal classic. If your plan for Halloween drinking is tamer—perhaps you're starting at breakfast—then this spicy sweet cocktail is a winner.
Ingredients
• 4 oz. brut champagne
• 2 oz. all-natural apple cider
• 1 oz. cinnamon whiskey
• 1 slice of apple, for garnish
Directions
1. Mix cider and cinnamon whiskey in a champagne flute.
2. Top with champagne, then stir lightly until incorporated.
3. Garnish with an apple slice.
Alex + Piper: The Final Season
You know Orange Is the New Black? This cocktail pays tribute with a spicy black smoked salt rim for Alex and sweet candy corns for Piper. It's also very orange. If you don't care about OITNB, then rename it the Halloween Special, or something similarly on-theme. (Courtesy of Honey Salt)
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila (like Casamigos)
• 1 1/2 oz. fresh carrot juice
• 3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz. agave syrup (1:1 ratio)
• 1 jalapeño slice
• black smoked sea salt
• candy corns
Directions
1. Add all ingredients to a mixing tin.
2. Add ice and shake vigorously.
3. Strain into a rocks glass with a black smoked sea salt rim, over fresh ice.
4. Garnish with candy corns.
Dark and Stormy
It's not particularly orange, nor does it come garnished with Halloween candy, but the Dark and Stormy does give you the opportunity to launch into any number of scary stories. No better time than now to channel Edgar Allan Poe while downing copious amounts of dark rum.
Ingredients
• 2 oz. dark rum
• 3 oz. ginger beer
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• lime wedge
Directions
1. Combine the rum, the ginger beer, and the lime juice in a tall glass full of ice cubes.
2. Stir.
3. Garnish with a lime wedge.
The Bone
This tall shot of Wild Turkey and other good stuff, created by David Wondrich for any and all Halloween-related festivities, goes down easy. Watch out for the hot sauce kick.
Ingredients
• 2 oz. 100-proof rye (like Wild Turkey) or bourbon
• 1 tsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp. simple syrup (made with equal parts sugar and water)
• 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
Directions
1. Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake.
3. Strain into chilled tall shot glass and serve.
Monster Mash
Spicy with a basil snap, this drink will keep you wide awake for tricks and treats alike. But really, it's that spooky green that makes it perfect for Halloween—and the endless loop of "Monster Mash" that you'll be listening to all night. (Courtesy of STK)
Ingredients
• 2 3/4 oz. vodka (like Absolut Elyx)
• 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
• 3/4 oz. simple syrup
• 2 slices jalapeño
• 4 basil leaves
Directions
1. Muddle jalapeños and basil leaves in a mixing glass.
2. Add vodka, lime juice, and simple syrup. Shake and strain into a martini glass.
3. Garnish with a jalapeño slice.
Bloody Sunrise
If you make a Tequila Sunrise but don't mix in the grenadine, instead letting it ooze from the top like goopy drips of blood, then you've got yourself a Halloween-themed drink.
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 oz. tequila reposado (like Cazadores)
• 3 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. grenadine
Directions
1. In a Collins glass, combine all ingredients with an ice top and grenadine. Garnish with one orange slice and a cherry.
The Vampire Hex
If Dracula had a drink—other than the blood sucked from his victims' necks, of course—it wouldn't be this Dirty Martini recipe. The garlic bitters make sure of that. But those two stuffed olives look an awful lot like bulgy eyeballs plucked straight from a bloodless corpse's skull. (Courtesy of Emily Rodia, Art in the Age)
Ingredients
• 2 1/2 oz. vodka (like Powderhorn rye)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin or Tribuno)
• 3/4 oz. olive brine
• 5-6 drops Addition Garlic Cocktail Spice bitters
Directions
1. Add ingredients to mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled.
2. Strain into chilled coupe glass. Garnish with garlic-stuffed olives.
The Zombie
Maybe tiki drinks and Halloween don't seem like natural bedfellows, but it's all about the name here: Zombie. Limit two per person, unless you want to use that sheet from your ghost costume as a blanket after you pass out.
Ingredients
• 1/2 oz. white rum
• 1 1/2 oz. golden rum
• 1 oz. dark rum
• 1/2 oz. 151-proof rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. pineapple juice
• 1 tsp. papaya juice
• 1 tsp. superfine sugar
Directions
1. Stir together all the ingredients except the 151 and pour into a 14-ounce glass three-fourths full of cracked ice.
2. Float the 151 as a lid by pouring it into a spoon and gently dipping it under the surface of the drink. Take a match to this mixture; it will burn.
3. Garnish with mint (either straight or dipped in lime juice and then superfine sugar) and/or fruit.
Bloody Mary
Again: the name. Sensing a theme here? Drink a Bloody Morning in the morning—or the morning after. Depending on the color of your costume (we're thinking red; you know, demonic, murder-y stuff), it can work the night of, too.
The Mix (makes 1 serving)
• 1/4 c. tomato juice
• 1/4 inch horseradish, chopped
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire
• 4 dashes hot sauce (Tabasco, Tapatio, etc.)
• 1/2 lime, fresh squeezed
• 1/2 lemon, fresh squeezed
• 1 tbsp. vodka
• dash of black pepper
• dash of sea salt
• dash of celery seeds
The Drink
• 2 oz. vodka
• 6-8 oz. Bloody Mary mix
Directions
1. Blend horseradish, Worcestershire, celery seeds, and tomato juice until smooth.
2. Add lemon, lime, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Adjust the mix to taste depending on how spicy, salty, or citrusy you like it.
3. Add a tablespoon of vodka to stabilize the mix and keep the juices fresh.
5. Combine 6-8 ounces of the mix with 2 ounces of vodka in a glass. Pour back and forth into another glass with ice three or four times to mix.
6. Garnish with a celery stalk and a lime.
Blood and Sand
Okay, okay. Last one. But aside from the fact that this has "blood" in the moniker, Blood and Sand is also a genuine classic. The depth of the scotch is balanced by a little sweetness from the cherry liqueur and the vermouth. Dark, but not too dark.
Ingredients
• 3/4 oz. Scotch whisky
• 3/4 oz. rosso vermouth
• 3/4 oz. cherry brandy
• 3/4 oz. orange juice
Directions
1. Shake all ingredients together with ice.
2. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then garnish with an orange twist.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
Finally, a beer option. This is a pumpkin ale that actually tastes like pumpkin. If you've had any of the many, many varieties out there that can't even satisfy that relatively reasonable-sounding requirement, you'll know why that's exciting. Get a pack delivered from Drizly.
