Halloween Cocktail Recipe: Into The Dark

Think you’re ready to host that Halloween party? Sure, you’ve got the perfect costume, killer decorations, and a carefully curated Halloween playlist. But do you have a Halloween cocktail picked out? If not, have no fear. I’ve got a cocktail that has it all – fall flavors, Halloween black color, and smoky special effects. Follow me . . . Into The Dark:

For my Halloween cocktail, I wanted to bring together some great fall flavors, but also to give the drink a costume of its own to foster the Halloween spirit.  Let me start with the latter first because you might need some lead time on a couple of the ingredients.  

The first is activated charcoal, which gives the drink its Halloween-appropriate black color.  There are plenty of options online; I used Viva Doria Virgin Coconut Shell Activated Charcoal Powder, which I found on Amazon.  You will also need dry ice pellets; I found mine at Talbert’s Ice in Bethesda (two pounds cost me about $5).  (Note that Talbert’s is especially safety conscious and will not sell you dry ice for use in drinks unless you have a dry ice cage; I found one of these online but did not order one, so I can’t speak to how well they work in a cocktail.)  Finally, if you want some skull-themed cocktail picks, try the Fred & Friends Bar Bones cocktail picks, like the one I used in the picture above.

On to the drink itself.  I wanted to combine flavors of apple, smoke, and spice.  So naturally I grabbed some apple brandy (Blanche de Normandie by Chrisitian Drouin), mezcal (Mezcal Vago Espadín), and Ancho Reyes Verde.  I suspected these flavors would need a little sweetness to balance out the drink, so I also added some Luxardo Maraschino liqueur.

After a couple of attempts, I found a flavor balance that I thought was really good.  The smoke and spice come through clearly, and the Maraschino gives the drink a soft edge.  The apple is not prominent but hints of it come through.  Once I had settled on the recipe, I put the drink’s costume on, adding 1/4 teaspoon of activated charcoal powder and mixing the ingredients with ice and straining the drink into a silver martini glass with a dry ice pellet, which gives it a fantastic bubbling effect:

Note that this is a strong drink.  Even though the dry ice makes it extra cold, this is a drink that will warm you on a cold Halloween evening.  (And if you’re looking for a few other fall cocktails to round out your menu, try the Soyeux and the Autumn Breeze.)

One final note:  please take care working with dry ice.  You shouldn’t handle it with bare skin, and if you have children, you should take care to keep dry ice out of their reach.  You also don’t want to accidentally swallow a dry ice pellet.  Dry ice sinks to the bottom of the drink, making such accidents unlikely.  But to make sure, you might wish to wait for the drink to stop bubbling.

Here is the recipe:

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Into The Dark

Get into the Halloween spirit with my Into The Dark cocktail, made with mezcal, apple brandy, Maraschino liqueur, Ancho Reyes Verde, activated charcoal and dry ice.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Spirit-Forward

Keyword Halloween Cocktails

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 225kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 oz. mezcal I used Mezcal Vago Espadín
• 3/4 oz. apple brandy I used Blanche de Normandie by Calvados Christian Drouin
• 3/4 oz. Luxardo Maraschino
• 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
• 1/4 tsp. activated charcoal powder I used Viva Doria Virgin Coconut Shell Activated Charcoal Powder
• 1 pellet dry ice

Instructions

• Combine the mezcal, apple brandy, Maraschino, Ancho Reyes Verde and charcoal powder in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
• Strain into a martini glass or coupe; be careful not to fill the glass to the top.
• Add dry ice pellet (do not handle with bare skin).

Happy Halloween!