The costume is pressed, the candy bowl stocked and the jack-o’-lanterns aglow. Besides putting an old Vincent Price film on mute and queuing up the Monster Mash playlist on your iPod, what else makes the perfect Halloween house party?
Creepy drinks, of course.
Few details round out any themed party as well as an offbeat cocktail. Like the perfect costume, color, drama and creativity characterize these recipes. Just remember: booze is optional. Having a “virgin” drink on hand is especially smart around Halloween as the scariest scene some revelers will face is a DUI checkpoint.– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
Cran-Cherry Plasma Transfusion
Ingredients
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) dark, sweet cherries
1 can (15 ounces) fruit cocktail
2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
3/4 cup vodka (optional)
Equipment:
Blender or food processor
6 zipper-type sandwich bags
6 straws, twisted or flexible
6 shower curtain rings
Directions
This recipe gets top honors for spooky presentation. First, purée the cherries and fruit cocktail with their liquid. Next, mix in cranberry juice and vodka. Refrigerate until chilled.
To prepare the “transfusion bags,” punch a hole in the corner of one layer of a zipper-type sandwich bag, just below the zip. Insert a straw in the hole. Punch another hole in the same corner, through both layers of the bag, just above the zip. Thread a shower curtain ring through that hole. Repeat with remaining bags, straws and shower curtain rings.
-Canned Food Alliance
Brain Martini
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin
1 1/2 ounces lychee nectar
1/2 ounce chilled sake
Fresh lychee fruit
Red food coloring
Directions
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add gin, lychee nectar and sake. Stir until well-chilled and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a fresh lychee fruit, and add a drop of red food coloring. -Plymouth Gin
Witch’s Potion
Ingredients
Fresh kiwi
1 1/2 ounces lemon-flavored rum
Slash of green melon liqueur
Splash of pineapple juice
Directions
Muddle kiwi in a shaker filled with ice. Add the remaining ingredients. Shake well. Strain into glass. -Bacardi
The Candy Corn
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces pomegranate liqueur
1 1/2 ounces premium vodka
1 1/2 ounces white crème de cacao
2 1/2 ounces half and half
Directions
Mix in in a shaker with ice and pour. Garnish glass with citrus rind.
-PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
Rémy Dragon
Ingredients
Two parts cognac
One part mango juice
Mashed fresh ginger
A splash each of grenadine and tonic water
Directions
Mix, shake and strain over ice. Garnish with a curl of ginger. -Rémy Martin
