Hosting a party for Halloween? You may want to get your wicked booze ready. If you’re trying to figure out what you’ll pour, chances are you’ve found your answer here. These 8 drinks are pure genius. Spook your guests with any of them and your party’s success is assured!
Featured photo: The Morticia by Marielle Mulder, Familicious.
On this page: Spooky tricks for any drink · 8 scary-tasty cocktails
How to make any drink look spooky: the basic tricks
You don’t need a special recipe to give a party drink a Halloween look. These tricks work on almost any cocktail, punch or mocktail.
- Give the glass a dripping rim. Dip the rim of an empty glass into a thick red syrup, such as grenadine mixed with a little corn syrup, then turn it upright and let it run down the sides before you pour.
- Go dark or go bright. Blackberry, black cherry and pomegranate make drinks deep and moody. Orange juice, blood orange and pineapple give a glowing orange, and a green liqueur or melon mixer turns a drink potion-green.
- Add a creepy garnish. Gummy worms over the rim, a lychee stuffed with a blueberry to look like an eyeball, or a sprig of rosemary that looks like a tiny dead branch.
- Serve it in something strange. Mason jars, lab-style flasks, skull glasses or a punch bowl with floating fruit slices do half the work for you.
- Make a version for everyone. Swap the spirits for sparkling water, ginger ale or juice so kids and non-drinkers get the same spooky look.
8 scary-tasty Halloween cocktails
Four of these have been on this list since 2015, and four are new, because the original recipe pages for those drinks are no longer online. We’ve listed what goes into each one, but the full recipes belong to the people who created them, so follow the links for their method. Setting out food too? Try our mashed potato ghosts and Halloween appetizers.
Jump to: 1. Witches brew · 2. Booger beer · 3. Candy corn martini · 4. Poison apple · 5. Bloody tooth · 6. The Blackbeard · 7. Spiderweb cocktail · 8. Goblin mimosas
1. Witches Brew Drink (A Halloween Cocktail)
Why it stands out: A proper potion: the butterfly-pea gin turns from blue to pink-purple as the lemon goes in, and a pinch of pearl luster dust makes it swirl and shimmer. The fog in the photo is optional.
Good to know: The time includes making the herb syrup.
You’ll need: basil, blue curaçao, Empress gin, herbal simple syrup, ice, lemon basil, lemon juice, pearl luster dust, rosemary, sparkling water, thyme, water, white sugar.
Makes: 1 cocktail · Time: about 30 minutes, including the herb syrup
Get the full recipe from Dini Kodippili at The Flavor Bender →
2. Booger Beer Cocktail
Why it stands out: The gross-out entry: green-tinted marshmallow cream is smeared around the rim and dotted with sugared green peas as “boogers”, over Guinness and sour apple schnapps.
Good to know: It’s a beer cocktail, built on Guinness.
You’ll need: Apple Pucker, green food coloring, green peas, Guinness beer, marshmallow cream, sugar.
Get the full recipe from Jamie Slack at Totally The Bomb →
3. Layered Candy Corn Vodka Martini
Why it stands out: Pineapple juice, vodka and grenadine settle into orange and yellow layers under a cap of whipped cream, so the glass looks like a piece of candy corn.
Good to know: Five ingredients plus ice, with candy corn on top.
You’ll need: candy corn, grenadine, ice, pineapple juice, vodka, whipped cream.
Serves: 1
Get the full recipe from Meredith at Our Love Language is Food →
4. Poison Apple Cocktail
Why it stands out: Spiced rum, apple cider and cranberry juice, with a little gold edible luster dust that makes the drink swirl like a potion.
Good to know: Apple cider makes it taste like fall.
You’ll need: apple cider, apple slices, cranberry juice, gold edible luster dust, spiced rum.
Serves: 1 · Time: about 5 minutes
Get the full recipe from Sarah White at Planning Inspired →
5. Bloody Tooth Cocktail
Why it stands out: Whiskey, pomegranate juice and lemon make a blood-red drink, and pomegranate seeds sunk in the glass look like little bloody teeth.
Good to know: The recipe includes a quick homemade simple syrup.
You’ll need: ice, lemon juice, lemon twist, pomegranate juice, pomegranate seeds, simple syrup, sugar, water, whiskey.
Serves: 1 · Time: about 10 minutes
Get the full recipe from Amanda Livesay at Fake Ginger →
6. The Blackbeard cocktail
Why it stands out: A pirate drink that’s truly black: spiced rum, Fernet-Branca and crème de cacao get their color from a pinch of squid ink instead of food coloring, then chocolate stout goes on top.
Good to know: The squid ink is there for the color.
You’ll need: chocolate stout, crème de cacao, Fernet-Branca, spiced rum, squid ink.
Makes: 1 cocktail
Get the full recipe from HonestlyYUM →
7. Spiderweb Cocktail
Why it stands out: A creamy vodka, coffee liqueur and cream drink, with melted marshmallow stretched across the rim like a spiderweb.
Good to know: The recipe makes two.
You’ll need: coffee liqueur, heavy whipping cream, ice, mini marshmallows, vodka.
Makes: 2 cocktails · Time: about 5 minutes
Get the full recipe from Amanda Davis at Amanda’s Cookin’ →
8. Goblin Mimosas
Why it stands out: Black vodka floated over orange juice makes a two-tone orange-and-black drink, topped with blueberry “eyeballs” holding candy eyes.
Good to know: This one is Party City’s recipe, shared in a Fox News slideshow of creepy cocktails.
You’ll need: black vodka, blueberries, candy eyeballs, orange juice.
Get the full recipe from Party City at Fox News →
Please drink responsibly, and keep a pitcher of something spooky and alcohol-free on the table for kids and anyone who isn’t drinking.
Some of these drinks first appeared in BuzzFeed’s roundup of spooky Halloween cocktails. Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Kitchen Kit
- A cocktail shaker, for shaken drinks like the spiderweb
- Coupe glasses, the classic glass for a dripping red rim
- A punch bowl with a ladle, for turning any of these into a big batch
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