13 Frightfully Fun Halloween Cocktails

Halloween was relegated to the children many moons ago. Though there are many of us – Wiccan and not – who love the holiday as well. There is something refreshing and transformative about it, beyond the cross-dressing and plain dress-up.

For many, Halloween is the last hurrah before a full season of familial and professional enforced gaiety – whence they drag the vessel of their stress and repository of all the fear and loathing in this world from office party to family gathering in a month-long horror fest of duty and pain they cannot escape without great cost…

It is a high holiday for a great many, but beyond your ideal of religion, philosophy or spirituality, I suggest you take Halloween as an opportunity to relive the fun parts of childhood. Become something or someone else for a few hours. Then partake in a treat or two… (tricks optional: ya freaks!)

1.    Bloody Brain Shooters

http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/entertaining/bloody-brain-shooter-recipe

2.    Dark & Stormy Death Punch

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/dark-and-stormy-death-punch

3.    Bleeding Heart Martini

http://www.marthastewart.com/314501/bleeding-heart-martini#Halloween%20Cocktails%20and%20Drink%20Recipes|/275515/halloween-cocktails-and-drink-recipes/@center/1006805/halloween-recipes|314501

4.    Corpse Reviver

http://boozenik.com/recipes/recipe-corpse-reviver-no-2/

5.    Candy Corn Cocktail

http://www.drinkoftheweek.com/drink_recipes/candy-corn/#axzz3nzdARtOm

6.    Pumpkin Spice Margarita

http://realhousemoms.com/pumpkin-spice-margarita/

7.    Embalming Fluid

http://noshingwiththenolands.com/embalming-fluid/

8.    Brain Hemorrhage

http://www.jamesandeverett.com/whatscooking/2012/10/05/halloween-cocktails-brain-hemorrhage/

9.    Black Heart Cider

http://www.paperandcake.com/2013/10/17/take-a-sip-black-heart-cider/

10. Fiery Eyeball

Fiery Eyeball (Courtesy of Andrea Correale)
1 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. orange juice
1/2 oz. apple brandy
2 oz. light rum
2 oz. dark rum
1 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz grenadine
1 oz. 151 Rum

Chill mixing glasses with ice. Remove the ice and add the juices, brandy, and the light and dark rums. Prepare glass by pouring grenadine around inside of rim and letting it bleed down along the glass. Carefully pour the contents of the mixer into a Tuscany Classics Crystal Martini Glass By Lenox. Float the 151 rum and grenadine. Light the cocktail with a wooden match.

11. Black Magic Martini

http://lasvegasweekly.com/nightlife/cocktail/2012/oct/16/trick-or-treat-tabus-black-magic-martini-better-mi/

12. Creepy Bubbles

http://dabbled.org/halloween-cocktails-creepy-bubble-fun/

13. Candy Bar Martinis

http://www.allparenting.com/my-table/articles/968983/candy-bar-martinis

Don’t forget the Creepy Cocktail Garnishes!

Micheladas and other Beer Cocktails

A few years ago, we’d gone on vacation to Barbados, and we met these Coast Guard boys whose ship had docked nearby for a few days. I remember playing in the pool under a full moon and cracking up as they tried to teach me how to order beer in two dozen different languages.

For a Latina, I can pronounce bier in German like a muttertochter. Since our vacation, microbrewering has gone from cottage industry to an international movement. The jet setters among you can benefit from learning some foreign words and phrases (commit to memory or bookmark).

And yes, cooking with beer is a thing, but also cocktail bars are now known to create inventive beverages with beer. Gone are the days of the simple beer chaser!

A beer cocktail is exactly what it sounds like: a cocktail made by mixing beer with a distilled beverage or another kind of beer. Sometimes fruit and herbs are added.

Beer purists would hate the very idea! They’d scream that beer and cocktails are two separate things, akin to Church and State – and never shall the two mix!

These guys would approve. 

Then there’s the michelada, a game-changer if there ever was one. It literally means a cold one. A chela is a beer. A chelada is a cold beer. Let go of michelada!

To put it simply, it is Mexican cerveza preparada (prepared beer). The beer is served in combination with lime juice, peppers, sauces, and spices.

There are many versions, although regionally you may find some standard ingredients; there is no such thing as "traditional" cocktail, you can get as creative as you wish. There is a michelada with tomato and lemon juice, much like a bloody Mary; and another that, like a margarita, is served in a glass with a salted rim. Micheladas may have Worcestershire, teriyaki or soy sauce, mole, a dash of hot sauce, a combination of peppers and even tropical fruits.

What I truly love about it is that micheladas and beer cocktails lend themselves to tweaking. Using beer as the foundation gives you endless options these days, that you can work it around specific dishes from appetizers to desserts, to specific cuisines!

Check out the micheladas and beer cocktails Pinterest board, replete with recipes and ideas.

https://www.pinterest.com/amapolapress/food-goddess-micheladas/

Beer cocktails give you versatility, an opportunity to be creative, and expand your palate. What better reason to go beyond the commercial and supermarket brands! There is something refreshing and accessible about the idea of beer cocktails.