Grown-ups want a little something more than a fun-sized Snickers on Halloween.
Something, Count Dracula might say, with a little more bite.
Maine restaurants have all kinds of spooky libations in store come All Hallow’s Eve. Here are some of the more fun ones that you can try at home. Watch for more Halloween cocktail recipes in our Wednesday Food & Dining section.
What better time than Halloween to break out the black vodka? Black vodka is made, according to Blavod Original Pure Black Vodka, by adding an herb called catechu that grows in southern Asia and central and east Africa. The herb has no effect on the vodka’s flavor.
The bartenders at Walter’s, 2 Portland Square in Portland, use black vodka to make a drink they call the Barnabas Collins. For those of you under 40 or allergic to Johnny Depp movies, Barnabas Collins is the 200-year-old vampire from the 1960s TV series and 2012 movie version of “Dark Shadows.”
BARNABAS COLLINS
1-1/2 ounces black vodka
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
Splash of blood orange puree
Splash of soda water
Serve on the rocks in a tall glass.
The Halloween bash at Grace, the restaurant located in a church at 15 Chestnut St. in Portland (the staff claims it’s haunted), is usually packed with revelers in creepy costumes dancing under black lights and drinking Halloween-themed cocktails from the bar. This year, the staff will be serving a new cocktail called the “Monster Mash.” It comes with edible shimmer, and the tonic water makes it glow under a black light. Oooh, scary.
MONSTER MASH
1-1/2 ounces Grey Goose vodka
4 ounces fresh squeezed lemonade
2 ounces tonic water
1 pinch luster (edible shimmer)
Optional garnish of peeled grapes (eyeballs), black ice cubes (black food coloring in ice cube trays) and plastic spiders or canned lychees (eyeballs)
Want something a little tamer but still funky looking? At the Kennebunk Inn, 45 Main St., and its restaurant, Academe Brasserie, the Candy Corn Cocktail comes with carrot-orange ice and a topping of vanilla cotton candy, turning that age-old children’s treat into something an adult can love. Sure, it has calories like candy corn, but the difference is that after one or two, you won’t care.
CANDY CORN COCKTAIL
Carrot Orange Ice:
1/2 cup orange simple syrup (1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water and zest of one orange, bring to a boil and chill)
1/2 cup carrot juice
1 orange, juiced
Dash of orange bitters
Blend all together and place in pyramid-shaped tray. Freeze.
Cocktail:
3 ounces Absolut Vanilla Vodka
1 ounce fresh lime juice
Cotton candy
Vanilla floss sugar, as needed
1/4 cup dehydrated corn, processed in spice grinder until powder
For cocktail, place one carrot orange ice cube in the bottom of a martini glass. In a martini shaker, combine 3 ounces of Absolut Vanilla vodka and 1 ounce fresh lime juice. Pour over carrot orange ice. Garnish with vanilla cotton candy dusted with dehydrated corn.
Pete Witham and The Cozmik Zombies will be playing at Bayside Bowl, 58 Alder St., on Halloween night. To mark the occasion, the staff has created a Cozmik Zombie cocktail, and with two kinds of rum, brandy and Bacardi 151, it’s a real killer. Don’t drink too many, or they might eat your brain.
COZMIK ZOMBIE
1 ounce light rum
1 ounce dark rum
1/2 ounce blackberry brandy
1/2 ounce Bacardi 151
Pineapple juice
Orange juice
Lime juice
Add rum, brandy and juice to a shaker with ice. Shake and strain over ice into a rocks glass. Float with Bacardi 151.
The folks at Damariscotta River Grill, 155 Main St., vant to suck your blooooood. Or at least sip a nice Absolute Ruby Red cocktail that looks like your blood. If the thought of drinking blood makes you squeamish, just pretend you’re Edward Cullen and you’ve finally “transformed” Bella Swan. Drink up!
BLOODY FANG
1-1/2 ounces Absolut Ruby Red Vodka
1/2 ounce Xrated Fusion Liqueur
1/2 ounce blood orange puree
Shake until ice crystals appear, then strain into a chilled martini glass. Drop a grenadine ice cube in the glass and garnish with candy corn.
Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:
mgoad@pressherald.com
Twitter: MeredithGoad
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