Wicked wines and spooky spirits

Having a Halloween party? Try these cocktails to drink on the night

It’s the freakiest night of the year and with it landing on a ‘thirsty Thursday,’ the one thing revellers don’t have to fear is how to have a howling good time this Halloween.

Here’s how to set the scene and bewitch your friends with the right fright night booze...

CREEPY COCKTAILS...

Nightmare in Florence

Breathe new life into a negroni by firing it up with Martini Fiero (£12, 75cl, Sainsbury’s

Ingredients: 25ml Whitley Neill, 25ml Martini Fiero, 10ml Campari, 25ml cold brew coffee.

Method: Stir all the ingredients in a pre-chilled rocks glass with cubed ice, then garnish with a slice of orange.

666 Sour

A sinister treat, Wildcat Bramble Blackberry Gin (£26, 70cl, Amazon) is cited as the darker, thornier sister to Wildcat Gin.

Ingredients: 50ml Wildcat Bramble, 25ml lemon juice, 10ml sugar syrup.

Method: Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the ingredients, shake and single strain over crushed ice, then garnish with lemon and blackberries.

SPOOKY SPIRITS...

Ghost Black Gin (£25, 70cl, Thedropstore.com)

With a dangerous dose of black magic, Leanne Ware, director of spirits at Halewood Wines & Spirits, says tasting this “is very much a treat, with its peppery, piney juniper and black pepper spice sweetened by the citrus peels delivering a creamy finish.

D1 London Gin (£35.99, 70cl), D1 Single Skull Mould (available in Blue and Purple, £4.99 each), D1londonspirits.co.uk)

If you’re short on time, something as simple but arresting as a G&T with a skull shaped ice cube in a copa glass suddenly takes on a whole new identity, especially with a bottle of the eerie looking D1 gin on the Halloween table setting or bar.

The Glenrothes 13 Year Old - Halloween Edition 2019 (£64.95, 70cl, Master of Malt)

The deadliest of drams, The Glenrothes have rolled out their limited edition Halloween bottling and shrouded this year’s ghostly spirit in white with a pumpkin orange label. WICKED WINES... Grande Alberone Organic Black Bio Vino Rosso, Italy (£7.99, Aldi)

With dramatic flavours of black cherries and plums, with hints of raisins and sweet spice, this fangtastic Italian - with its gothic style label cloaked like Dracular’s cape - is the perfect costume party red to serve with saucy sausage pasta bake or chilli con carne with jacket potatoes.

The Waxed Bat Reserve 2018, Mendoza, Argentina (£13.99, Laithwaite’s)

For trick-or-treaters who take their fright nights seriously, this rich, full bodied blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec contrasts ripe blackberry and blackcurrant forest fruits with succulent plum flavours, and there’s a wisp of smoky vanilla from 12 months in oak.

Ghost Corner Pinot Noir 2016, Elim, South Africa (£19.99, Waitrose, in-store)

From a vineyard at the southernmost tip of Africa, this wine’s haunting scent draws you in as soon as it’s poured.

The landscape - a matrix of lime-rich soil with slate and gravel deposits create these medal- winning wines which take their name from the mysterious and treacherous waters where many a ship has met its fate.