Zentan’s Matt Allred serves up some Death Before Dinner. Photo: Rey Lopez
As you’re roaming the aisles of your local grocery store this Halloween season, stocking up on Pixy Sticks, candy corn and Snickers, don’t forget to commune with the spirits. As in whiskey and rum. Because we have recipes for Halloween cocktails from our mad-scientist bartenders that are sure to scare up a good time and raise the roof, if not the dead.
Boo-tiful
By Sheri Kelly
Tulio Ristorante
Hotel Vintage, Seattle
1 ounce spice-infused Rock ‘n’ Rye whiskey (see recipe below)
¼ ounce Aperol
2 dashes dandelion bitters
2 ounces San Pellegrino Aranciata sparkling-orange soft drink
Stir and serve chilled in a rocks or bucket glass; top with a wedge of roasted delicata squash.
To make Rock ‘n’ Rye Whiskey:
1 750ml bottle of Old Crow Bourbon
¼ cup rock candy or sugar in the raw
1 vanilla bean
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon cloves
4 pieces star anise
Peel of one lemon and one orange
Eye of newt (optional)
Let the mixture sit for one week prior to use, then filter back into the cleaned bourbon bottle.
Life and Limb
By Stephanie Teslar
Blue Hound Kitchen + Cocktails
Hotel Palomar Phoenix
1 ounce Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon
1 ounce coffee (use cold-brewed coffee to do it right; here’s a recipe)
¾ ounce Demerara sugar
½ ounce Orgeat syrup (see recipe above)
Whole egg
Shake, strain, and serve up in a coupe glass, then garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and a couple of coffee beans.
