Festive cocktails put some tasty scare into Halloween and Day of the Dead
Halloween and the overlapping El Dia de los Muertos brings out a load of skull imagery as “Fright Night” segues into the multiday Mexican festival honoring deceased friends and family members. The calendar confluence also invites cocktail creativity. This is the time of year, after all, when autumnal flavors merge easily with festive iconography. Tequila figures prominently. Here are a few Halloween and Day of the Dead recipes you can try at home.
Note: Local restaurants are marking Dia de los Muertos, which runs Wednesday to Nov. 2 with special dinners and cocktails. Cuchara, 214 Fairview, will offer a special cocktail menu with face painting, crafts, live music, Aztec dancers and pan de Muertos from 5 to 10 p.m. Xochi, 1777 Walker, is hosting a wine dinner Thursday ($115 per person). And Caracol, 2200 Post Oak, is hosting a dinner celebrating Avion Tequila Friday ($78 per person).
Headless Horseman
1½ ounces Playa Real Silver
Tequila
1½ ounces sweetened
pumpkin purée
¾ ounce lemon juice ¼ ounce allspice dram
(allspice liqueur) 1½ ounces soda water
Instructions: In a cocktail shaker with ice, combine all ingredients except soda and shake well. Strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice and top with soda. Tuck a sisho leaf into the drink (looks like a pumpkin leaf).
Potion de Muerto
2 ounces Hornitos Black
Barrel Tequila ¾ ounce orange juice ¾ ounce agave syrup 3 dashes orange bitters ½ ounce beet juice
Instructions: Combine tequila, orange juice, agave and bitters in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and pour into a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Slowly pour beet juice on top and let it float down to resemble blood. Garnish with orange slice.
El Amor de Julio
1 ounce Tequila Don Julio Reposado
1⁄3 ounce chile liqueur (such as Ancho Reyes) ¼ ounce Italian aperitif ¼ ounce pomegranate liqueur
2 dashes mole bitters 2 dashes Angostura bitters Grapefruit twist
Instructions: Combine ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass filled with ice. Stir until well combined. Garnish with grapefruit.