This is one of those iconic cocktails. I must have had a few fake zombies over the years, but it wasn’t until I got to the Match Bar in London, that I realised just how potent the real deal is.
They are so strong, that orders are limited to two per person, per night.
As a result, it’s only fair to make a clear warning that this drink is VERY VERY STRONG.
I can’t accept responsibility for you doing anything silly after drinking it.

I have looked high and low for the recipe, and to be honest, the measures just don’t seem right (there is very little mixer and a whole heap of alcohol), but then, it does taste pretty much like pure alcohol when you buy it in a cocktail bar!

Ingredients:

* 1/2 part white rum
* 1 1/2 part golden rum
* 1 part dark rum
* 1/2 part over-proof rum
* 1 part lime juice
* 1 part pineapple juice
* 1 part papaya juice (or mango juice)
* Slice of lime

Preparation:

1. Stir together all these ingredients (except for the over-proof rum), or shake them together if you have a fancy cocktail shaker  and poor into a glass over ice.
2 . To finish, you can be all fancy and take your slice of lime, spinkle some sugar on it, then place it in the top of the glass. Then poor a dash of the overproof rum on top. At the Match bar, they then set fire to it, but I wouldn’t recommend that you do that unless you have a fire extinguisher handy!

Dawn of the Dead

One of my own recipes.
It’s an adaptation of one of my holiday cocktails which I have amended to provide that Halloween feel.
It tastes great, and is pretty strong, so only drink this if you’re prepared to get pretty wasted.

Ingredients:

* 1 measure of white over-proof rum
* 1/2 measure of golden rum
* 1 measure cherry liqueur
* Dash of Grenadine
* Dash of black vodka
* Pineapple and coconut juice

Preparation:

1. Put the white rum, golden rum, and cherry liqueur into a cocktail shaker with ice. Give them a shake and strain into a highball glass.
2. Pour in some pineapple and coconut juice, the amount is down to your personal taste and alcohol tolerance. I personally like to fill the glass three quarters of the way full.
3. Add ice.
4. Add a splash of grenadine, using a pourer (one of these things). It the liquid should sink to the bottom of the glass.
5. Now add a splash of black vodka, but do so by pouring it in over an upturned teaspoon; this should ensure that the vodka floats at the top of the drink. As black vodka isn’t really black, but is more very dark green, your should get the following results!

Voodoo Queen

I have only recently found this recipe, so haven’t had a chance to try it yet. However, it looks great and it’s definitely going to be the first cocktail that I try for Halloween 2009!

Ingredients:

* 15ml blue curacao
* 20ml Bourbon
* 20ml Galliano
* Orange juice
* Pineapple juice
* Dash of Grenadine

Preparation:

1. Take a 275ml wine glass and pour in 15ml of blue curacao
2. Add lots of ice.
3. Pour over 20ml of bourbon followed by 20ml of Galliano liqueur.
4. Gently pour in equal quantities of orange and pineapple juice.
5. To give a really spooky, voodoo finish, drizzle over the top with grenadine (nozzle recommended).

Witches Potion

Not to be confused with the Witches Brew mentioned in my previous post. This little number is a bit different, and looks very cool. It’s a bit of a milky one, which is different to the other cocktails that have been posted so far, and it’s also very easy to make.

Ingredients:

* Can of half cream and half milk (half and half)
* 30ml blue curacao
* 30ml white rum

Preparation:

1. In a cocktail shaker mix 15 fluid oz of half cream and half milk, and pour over ice.
2. Add 30ml shot of blue curacao and 30ml of white rum.
3. Serve.

Swamp Water

Another simple one. Nice and brightly coloured, and an unoffensive fruity taste, perfect for parties!

Ingredients:

* 30ml blue curacao
* 30ml vodka
* Orange juice
* Garnish (cherry and slice of orange)

Preparation:

1. Pour 30ml blue curacao and 30ml vodka over ice.
2. Top with orange juice.
3. Decorate with a slice of orange and cherry.

Throughout the night we had been referring to the web for new cocktail ideas. We found a few nice ones (which I will report on in another post).

However, one of them really intrigued us. It’s called cursed water, and the reason why it was so interesting is because it contained hot tea!

“TEA?!” you say! Yep, we were as shocked as she is.

Now we were pretty sure that it wasn’t going to taste good. But once we had heard of this strange concoction, we couldn’t really let Halloween pass without trying it. On top of everything else, I had a duty to drink it, and share my experience with all of you on Halloweenerrific!

The ingredients are:

1 oz. 151-proof rum
1/2 oz. gin
1/4 oz. peach schnapps
1 tbsp. honey
Hot tea
Lemon slice

The preparation is pretty straight forward. Fill a mug 3 quarters of the way with tea, then had the other ingredients slowly, finishing with the lemon slice.

Some other cursed water

We didn’t have 151 rum. And to be honest, I’m not sure what we used. I’m thinking that it was Mount Gay, but it could quite easily have been Wray and Nephew considering the devil-may-care mood that we were in.

Whatever we used, I can confidently say that it tasted pretty rough. It was an interesting experience, but certainly wasn’t one of those cocktails that left you saying “Oh wow, was there even any alcohol in that?”.
In essence, it tasted like tea with booze in. Which is just what it was.

On the plus side though, tea contains caffeine, and by drinking it, we were able to stay up even later – which is just what you want to be able to do on Halloween.

Brain Hemorrhage/Monkey’s Brains

There are a few different recipes for this, as there are different names for it.
It’s always great if you want to drink something that tastes decent, but looks horrible.

It does taste good, honest.

The traditional ingredients are as follows:

1/2 – 3/4 oz. Peach Schnapps
1-2 Tbl. of Irish cream liqueur
1 tsp of grenadine.

However, I have experimented (when desperate) with other ingredients which might not taste quite as good, but still do the trick.
For instance, substituting the Schnapps with Ouzo or Sambuca.

Preparation:

1. Pretty much fill a shot glass with the Schnapps (or equivalent)
2. Pour in the Irish cream – Preferably using a nozzle, which helps to give a nice steady flow. I use one like this:

3. Finally, add the grenadine. The trick here is to drizzle it into the drink on the back the of a tea-spoon. This should ensure that the red liquid floats ominously in your beverage.

Mummy

Here’s another one that will involve your tea-spoon skills. If pulled off properly though, this one looks pretty impressive.

Ingredients:

1 Part grenadine
1 Part Irish cream
1 Part melon liqueur

Preparation:

1. Pour in the grenadine
2. Pour in the melon liqueur, using your spooning skills. Touch the tip of the up-side-down teaspoon to the side of the galssand let the liqueur trickle in.
If you do it gently enough, it should sit on top of the grenadine.
3. Add the Irish cream with care (using the nozzle) this should sit in the middle of the two.

Screamer

I will be trying this one this year. It looks pretty strong, so it’s unlikely to taste very nice. However, it’s good if you turn up late to a party and want to catch up I suppose!

Ingredients:

1 Part Gin
1 Part Rum
1 Part Tequila
1 Part Triple Sec
1 Part Vodka

Preparation:

1. Nice and easy. Pour in, mix, and strain over ice.
2. Drink it!

Toxic Waste

The final one (for now). This one looks cool, and might even glow slightly under blacklight. Although I am yet to try that out, so don’t hold me to it.
It has a nice balance of strength and flavour.

Ingredients:

1 Part vodka
1 Part triple sec
1 Part melon liqueur
A splash of lime juice
Preparation:

Nice and simple. Just stick them all together and mix. You want to go for that yellowish, greeny glowing colour.

However, in my experience they’re often flawed. One of the bigegst problems being that you need to go out and buy a load of very specific ingredients, which is expensive, and wasteful (if you don’t use them after Halloween).

Therefore, I have decided to post cocktails that I have tried and tested!

Here’s the first couple.

Slime Margarita

Like Tequilla?
No, me neither.
However, it’s okay when mixed with other things. And although ‘slime’ doesn’t sound like a nice mixer, it works with this drink.
This is my own take on a drink that I found online. It’s particularly cool because of its green colour. Look!

Looks horrible, tastes great.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 parts Tequila (preferably white)
1 part Curaçao (the blue stuff)
1 part pineapple juice
1 part mango juice

Preparation:

1. Rim a margarita glass with salt.
2. Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
3. Shake well.
4. Strain over ice into the prepared margarita glass.

The Ghostbuster

Nothing to do with Bill Murray, just a pretty simple cocktail with a spooky twist.
Melon liqueur is a very useful Halloween cocktail ingredient, so I recommend it as one of your Halloween ‘must buys’.
The idea is, that the drink is spooky green, tastes nice, and if done properly, the Irish cream looks like a spooky figure in the glass… WoooOOooOOOoo!

Ingredients:

1 oz peach schnapps
1 oz melon liqueur
3-5 drops of Irish cream liqueur

Preparation:

1. Pour the peach schnapps and melon liqueur into a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake well.
3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
4. Add the Irish cream drop by drop into the center of the drink.