Trick or Treat Drinks

This weekend some of us may get our party on. For some Halloween is the traditional kick off to the Holiday season. So if you gone do it, you might as well do it right! And the only way to do it right is to do it UML style. Luxist helps us get our grown person drink on.

Absinthe:
Reintroduced in the last couple of years to liquor stores, it is a anise flavored distilled spirit, emerald green in color that turns to cloudy opalescent white when mixed with a bit of water, which is traditionally poured over a sugar cube. Known in the 19th century as “The Green Fairy” for its power to bring on hallucinations. It was known to be a favorite of such “dark” artists and writers as Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe and Ernest Hemingway. Lucid is one brand, priced at about $50.00, and packaged in a cool black bottle featuring the eyes of a black cat.

Crystal Head Vodka:
Apprpriately bottled in a crystal skull, you could buy a few to make a real statement at your bar. Price: about $42.00. Here are two recipes to make use of Crystal Head:

Brain Freeze
1 1/2 oz. Crystal Head Vodka, 1 1/2 to 2 oz. Pure lime juice, 1oz. Simple syrup.
Combine all the ingredients with ice in a blender. Blend until ice is well crushed. Serve in a sugar rimed rocks glass garnished with a slice of lime.Cranium
1 1/2 oz. Crystal Head Vodka, Cranberry juice, Grenadine. Pour Crystal Head vodka and Cranberry juice over ice in a tall glass. Add splash of Grenadine (unstirred) on the top. Garnish with blood orange slice.

Chambord: The raspberry blackberry liqueur is a very handy cocktail ingredient for it’s capacity for turning any cocktail blood red. Price: About $26.00. Here are three cocktails sure to make the guests see red:

Black Martini
3 1/2 oz. gin or vodka, 1/2 oz of Chambord, lemon twist for garnish.

Bloodtini
2 oz VeeV Acai Spirit, 1oz of acai juice, 1/2 oz of fresh lime juice, topped off with Champagne and a lime wedge.

Vampire Kiss Martini
1 ½ oz vodka, 1 ½ oz champagne, ¾ oz Chambord, Red sugar.
Take the red sugar and rim a martini glass. Pour the vodka and Chambord into the glass. Top off the drink with the champagne.

Goblin Ghoulade
1 oz Chambord Flavored Vodka,1 oz Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur,
1 oz Roses Lime Juice, 1 oz Cranberry Juice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. if you are feeling really festive. Make a hole in a peeled radish, and insert a blueberry to make an “eye” for garnish. Skewer the eye for added effect.

Brazilian Pumpkin Frappe
1 ½ oz Cabana Cachaça, ½ oz Jamaican Rum, 1 whole egg, ½ oz Half n Half, ½ oz Maple syrup, 2 Dashes Fee’s Aromatic bitters, 1 Heaping teaspoon of Organic Pumpkin pie mix. Top with cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg.

HallowRita (Halloween Margarita), making use of the seasonally available Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice Liqueur.
1 part Reposado tequila, 1¼ parts Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice, 3 parts Fresh sour (1 part each lemon & lime juice, 2 parts simple syrup). Salt rim. Combine ingredients in shaker w/ ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into glass w/ ice. Garnish and serve.

Mad Russian
Rasputin, known also as The Mad Russian, is a good character to conjure for Halloween.