Have a boo-zy Halloween

Halloween is the perfect excuse to dress up, and get creative with your cocktails. But hosting a party needn’t be as scary as it should be fun. Whether your party, is a simple or an elaborate affair, what you really need is to get creative with your drinks. And as is the case with every party, you need to have a signature cocktail (or two) to keep everyone in good spirits

It really is the presentation that matters, since Halloween is an affair that is experienced by touching, smelling, hearing, seeing and tasting. However, that is hardly a reason to be overwhelmed. To keep to the Halloween theme, stock up on simple ingredients like lychees, blueberries, skewers, olives, food colour, ice cubes, black sugar, oranges, apples and candy.

It is easy to create various spooky garnishes or drinks with day-to-day ingredients. One can experiment with classic cocktails like margaritas, martinis, mojitos and more. A classic margarita can be easily made to look spooky as ever and give you goosebumps. Drinks like Black Magic Margaritas, Glow Shots, Witch Martinis amongst others are not only extremely easy to put together but also delicious and spooky enough.

To make the Black Magic Margarita get together some black sugar, ice, tequila, triple sec, lime juice, red food colouring, blue food colouring, green food colouring and lime slices for garnish. All you’ve got to do is rim the glasses with a lime slice and dip in the black sugar. Divide tequila, triple sec, and limejuice between glasses and stir to combine. Add the green, red and blue food colouring till the desired black colour is achieved. Add ice and garnish with a slice of lime. Voila! Your drink is now ready.

The Witch Martini too is easy to whip up and is one of the hot favourites of the season. All you need is gin, dry vermouth, absinthe, ice and olives. Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Finally, garnish with the olives.

The colour purple makes for pretty-looking drinks. You could create a Frankenstein with vodka, blue Curacao, sweet and sour mix, grenadine and cranberry juice. Rim the glass with purple sprinkles and set aside. Combine vodka, blue curacao, sweet and sour mix, grenadine, and cranberry juice in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until combined. Then, fill the sprinkle-coated glass with ice. Pour the purple coloured, spooky yet pretty cocktail mix into glasses.

There are several spirits that do the trick just by themselves. Absinthe, is not only extremely potent, but can also be used to make a drink because of its spooky green colour. Midori too has a spooky green colour that works for the theme. Pink champagne can be used to create a delicious bubbly cocktail, Kahlua, Baileys and other liqueurs are delicious and make delightful Halloween drinks.

Experimenting is key but it’s important to know when to stop so you don’t go overboard. There’s a high chance the drink will not be consumed if it looks really ugly or it may just end up tasting bad. The glasses used also play an important role in the overall look of the drink. Make sure the drinks are put in glasses through which the drink is visible. A frosted glass may dilute the whole purpose of the drink. Lastly, don’t forget to have fun!

Ricky Teja is the owner of Summer House Cafe.