13 Frightfully Easy Halloween Cocktails to Make

Come on in, witches! Halloween is fully on this year… so sharpen your claws, grow out your mole hairs, and let’s get ready to make some drinks for our guests, shall we?

All sorts of folks come out for Halloween. And since they’re too old to go trick or treating (not my words!), they’ll be crawling to the bar in costumes seeking themed drinks. If you think about it, their Halloween success is in your hands. Don’t be the one to make their holiday suck! Let their significant other do that for them…

In my experience, knowing a few, good themed drinks for fall, winter, or even spring holidays will make you stand out as one of the great bartenders, not just one of the “good” ones. 

Here’s a list of the top Halloween cocktails that you won’t find anywhere else. Brought to you by the team of bartending ghouls and ghosts who just so happen to also be the professionals and instructors at Local Bartending School.

Before we get started, I’m going to let you in a little secret. (Don’t worry, for those of you who aren’t into the spooky stuff–it’s not scary. Not as scary as our jobs already are. Actually, it’s pretty fun!)

Halloween cocktails sell significantly better when it’s a whole experience. Sure themed drinks are cool, but if you can/if it’s on-brand:

  • Smack a few decorations around the place like spider webs, bat silhouettes, lights, or pumpkins.
  • Use garnishes that look weird! Like eyeballs, black rims, or fake edible blood (hello grenadine!).
  • Wear apparel, jewelry, or other adornments that are festive A.F. (My tips were always a solid 20%, if not more when I was the most festive human behind the bar.)
  • Don’t be afraid to play with dry ice for a smokey, magical effect.

Creepy, Craveable, and Constantly-Ordered Halloween Cocktails to Make

Bloody Mary

bloody-mary-halloween-ideas

The Bloody Mary is a drink that needs no alteration to its name to be spooky It sounds creepy, it looks creepy, but is a crowd favorite and easy to make. 

Ingredients and instructions may vary depending on where you’re located and the bar you’re working. But to get you started, here’s a basic recipe using an industry-standard mix, Zing Zang:

Ingredients

  • 4 ounce Zing Zang® Bloody Mary Mix
  • 1.5 ounce vodka

Instructions

  • Pour over ice cubes and stir
  • Add a squeeze of lime
  • Garnish with celery, olive, or lime (or all three!)

You might venture out a bit and try making these Bloody Mary Syringes. (Batch these ahead of time and you have yourself a nice set up for a boozy daytime or brunch Halloween event.)

Spellbound Margarita

There ain’t no margarita like a Spellbound Margarita. This Halloween cocktail looks like Hocus Pocus in a glass. Not to be confused with Deena, Jersey Shore’s Blast-in-a-Glass. I mean, she is a self-proclaimed Walking Holiday. I know who I’m dressing up as for Halloween, now!

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces tequila, silver
  • 1 ounce triple sec
  • Lime juice
  • Red, green, and blue food coloring
  • Black sanding sugar
  • Lime slices

Instructions

  • Rim two glasses with a bit of lime juice and black sugar
  • Add tequila, triple sec, and lime juice to a shaker tin, and shake to combine. Pour over fresh ice and add food coloring until desired black color is achieved.
  • Garnish with lime.

Witches Brew

Witches-Brew-Halloween-Cocktail

Edible dust? Say less.

Ingredients

  • 2.5 ounce Midori melon liqueur
  • 2.5 ounce orange juice
  • 2.5 ounce lemon lime soda 

Instructions

  • Add all ingredients (except soda) into a shaker. Shake. 
  • Pour into rimmed martini glasses. See Spellbound Margarita recipe for more.
  • Top with soda and give it a witchy stir.
  • Don’t forget the Hair of Toad. (Kidding, of course.)

Halloween Punch

Halloween Punch

A Halloween party calls for Halloween Punch. But not like the first kind. We’re too old for that (and Trick or Treating.)

Ingredients (This group punch recipe is made for batching or for a group)

  • 64 ounces cranberry 100% juice blend (with grape, apple, and pear)
  • 64 ounces apple juice or apple cider
  • 1 liter ginger ale and 
  • 1 750 ml bottle aged, white, or dark rum 
  • Dry ice, optional

Instructions

  • Chill and add all ingredients into your spooky punch bowl (I know you have one.)
  • Add the optional dry eyes or your on-point garnishes like worms, eyeballs, or creepy crawlies. 

Tip: You can also use bourbon or vodka. Whatever floats your spirit’s boats. 

Another tip: Make this a mocktail easily by substituting the alcohol for another liter of ginger ale. Don’t forget to make it fruity with fresh fruit!

Old Fashioned

Old Fashioned

Some Halloween cocktail recipes don’t need to be complex, black, or magically foggy.

For your guests who are a bit scared to venture out, try suggesting an infusion of flavor to your Old Fashioneds! They take well to a whole corn maze full of flavors like:

  • Pumpkin
  • Apple Cider
  • Candy Corn Puree
  • Maple Syrup

Butter Beer

butterbeer-recipe

For Harry Potter lovers and costume-wearers, the only thing they might need to bring the scene home is a cup of butterbeer in their hand.

Ingredients

  • Beer
    • 6 ounce cream soda
    • 1 ounce vanilla vodka
    • 1 ounce butterscotch schnapps
    • .25 teaspoon butter extract
    • Topping
      • .25 cup heavy whipping cream
      • 1 tablespoon marshmallow fluff
      • .5 oz Amaretto

Instructions

  • Make the topping by adding whipped cream into a bowl and beat with a mixer until a soft peak. Add fluff and Amaretto until a hard peak.
  • Add the butter extract, and schnapps. Vodka, and cream soda into a mug.
  • Add the whipped cream topping, and serve!

Dia de los Muertos Mule

Dia de los Muertos Mule

Mules are one of my favorite drinks! Often because it’s quite lively. But not this time around For your Halloween party at work or at home, you have to try the Dia de los Muertos Mule. 

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces tequila
  • .25 ounce lime juice
  • 4 ounce ginger beer
  • Ancho chile powder, pinch
  • Lime wheels

Instructions

  • Top off a copper mule mug with some ice. Pour in the tequila, lime juice, and chilled ginger beer. Stir in a pinch of ancho chile powder to make it spicy and festive.

Vampire’s Kiss

Vampire’s Kiss

Halloween stirs up a pumpkin patch full of cult favorites like horror movies, decor items, and of course cocktails. Vampire’s Kiss starts us off being the first of three Halloween drink recipes that are also Halloween movies.

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces raspberry vodka
  • 2 ounces Chambord
  • 3 ounces cranberry juice
  • Corn syrup combined with red food coloring for garnish 

Instructions

  • Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a chilled martini glass and serve to the nearest blood-sucker. 

Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy-Hollow-Cocktail

Ingredients

  • .25 cup honey or gold agave
  • 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
  • Zest from 1 orange
  • .25cup pomegranate or cranberry juice
  • 2 ounces tequila or Mezcal
  • Orange bitters
  • 1 dash of ground cinnamon
  • Sparkling water, for topping
  • Cinnamon sugar to rim glass

Instructions

  • Make honey syrup by bringing a half cup of water, honey, and rosemary to a bowl. Add the zest from an orange and remove from heat; allow to cool.
  • Rim your glasses with cinnamon sugar. Add ice.
  • Add pomegranate juice, bitters, cinnamon, tequila, and honey syrup to a shaker with ice. Shake and strain. Use sparkling water to top off.

Nightmare on Bourbon Street

nightmare-on-bourbon-street

This isn’t just a Halloween cocktail. It’s also a 2019 film. Yep, another recipe that is also a movie. 

  • 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
  • 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup apple cider
  • 5 ounces sparkling hard Honeycrisp apple cider
  • 1.5 ounces bourbon
  • Cinnamon sugar, for rim
  • Cinnamon sticks, rosemary, and apple slices, for garnish

Instructions

  • Rim your serving glass with cinnamon sugar and then fill it up with fresh rocks.
  • Now, in your shaker add bourbon, apple cider, lemon juice, ginger, maple syrup, and cinnamon then shake. Strain over your fresh ice. Add hard cider to the top and serve!

Chai Cocktail

Chai is another one of those spices that scream hayrides and good times. It also pairs nicely with vodka. Now you can bring the haunted hayride to your bar.

Pumpkin Spice Kentucky Mule

pumpkin-kentucky-moscow-mule

Mules are one of my favorite things ever. But if you add pumpkin AND bourbon? Twist my mummified arm.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoon pumpkin butter
  • 3 ounces bourbon
  • 4 shakes of cardamom bitters
  • Ginger beer
  • Candied ginger garnish
  • Cinnamon sticks, garnish

Instructions

  • Add ice to your shaker along with pumpkin butter and bourbon. Shake. Strain a rocks glass over fresh ice. Add bitters and top with your favorite ginger beer. (I like Q mixers!)

Tip: Try a demerara simple syrup in a mule or an old-fashioned for an extra sweet treat.

BONUS RECIPE! Hot Toddy

hot-toddy-halloween

The Hot Toddy is a classic, warm drink recipe that’s made a few lists around here at LBS–whiskey recipes you need to know and winter cocktails just to name a few. And now, Halloween cocktails. Apparently, a little lemon juice goes a long way.

Bartenders in the north, a warm drink like a Hot Toddy or Irish Coffee can warm the soul back to life on a cold Halloween night.

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces tequila
  • .25 ounce lime juice
  • 4 ounce ginger beer
  • Ancho chile powder, pinch
  • Lime wheels

Instructions

  • Top off a copper mule mug with some ice. Pour in the tequila, lime juice, and chilled ginger beer. Stir in a pinch of ancho chile powder to make it spicy and festive.

Horchata with Pumpkin

Horchata can change in flavor depending on where you go. But, it’s typically made from ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley, or tiger nuts. It originated in Spain but spread its web throughout Southern America and Europe.

BONUS RECIPE! Dark and Stormy in the Pumpkin Patch

As soon as the leaves start falling (well, actually, before then…) the pumpkin craving starts calling. Scratch the itch that all of your bar patrons are having and give them the pumpkin!

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin butter
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice
  • 1.5 ounces spiced rum
  • Ginger beer 
  • Orange peel

Instructions

  • Add orange juice, rum, and pumpkin bitter to a rocks glass. 
  • Rub a peel around a high-ball glass to spread oils. Fill the glass with ice. Drop the peel in and then pour your mixture over top. Add ginger beer to the top, stir, and serve.

Serving Up Boos for Halloween and Every Month After

Bring your own boos! Don’t forget to share this with your other bartenders so they can work their magic behind the bar this Halloween, too. 

Good luck out there, friends. Stay safe, serve safe, and remember–this is only the start of the peak season for some of you.

Whether you’re a bar owner, veteran bartender, or just getting started Local Bartending School can help your season look a little less… scary. Reach out to hear how they can assist you with training, events, and so much more.

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Carrie Jean Lipe

Carrie Lipe has been writing creatively since childhood but jump-started her professional writing after college. She's an Indiana native, Ball State Hospitality graduate, and a bartender with over 10+ years in the industry. You can find her making basil Moscow mules when she's not writing. Follow her professional journey on Instagram! @contentbycarriejean