“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog”
— Macbeth, William Shakespeare
… Blegh, that’s not very appetizing, is it? Well sink your fangs into this, ladies and gents: Our bartenders have whipped up grown-up cocktails that reflect all the flavors of fall. We’re talking pumpkin butter, pumpkin-sage and maple syrup, nutmeg, you name it. But it’s not all sugar and spice; these concoctions will scare up plenty of thrills for the 31st, one sinister sip at a time.
Pumpkin Fizz
Created by Kevin Diedrich (San Francisco)
2 ounces spiced rum
½ ounce cream
½ ounce egg white
Heavy barspoon of pumpkin butter/filling
½ ounce maple syrup
¼ ounce lemon juice
2 dashes Fee Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters
Combine ingredients and shake. Strain into a collins glass. Garnish with fresh grated nutmeg.
Zombie Punch
Created by Denis Cote, 39 Degrees (Aspen)
1 liter Sailor Jerry spiced rum
3 ounces Kübler Absinthe
¼ liter Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
2 liters pineapple juice
1 liter orange juice
¼ liter lime juice
½ ounce grenadine
3 tablespoons coconut syrup
Fresh mint
Stir all ingredients (except grenadine) together and serve on ice. Add ½ ounce of grenadine and garnish with mint sprigs. Serves 20 to 22.
Spooky Lych-eye Martini
Created by Ryan Brewster, NIOS (New York City)
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce lychee juice
½ ounce dry vermouth
½ ounce grenadine
1 lychee
In a cocktail shaker, add all ingredients but the grenadine and the lychee. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lychee and slowly pour the grenadine down the side of the glass to make sure drink is layered properly. It should look like a bloody eyeball in the bottom of clear/cloudy liquid.
The Great Pumpkin
Created by Chad Phillips, The Social Club (Miami)
2 ounces Flor de Caña Gran Reserva rum
1 ounce roasted pumpkin-sage syrup*
1 ounce lemon juice
Ginger beer
Build in a collins glass. Top with ginger beer.
*Pumpkin-sage syrup: Roast a sweet pumpkin (not a carving pumpkin) for 25 minutes at 350 degrees, remove the innards and scoop out the rest to use in the syrup. Over medium-low heat, sauté the pumpkin for three to five minutes in a skillet. Add 2 quarts water and 2 quarts of brown sugar. Cook for two hours. After two hours, finely chop 25 to 30 sage leaves and stir into mixture. Continue to cook to taste (if you want more sage flavor, let it go longer).
Corpse Reviver #56
Created by Chad Phillips, The Social Club (Miami)
1 ounce St. George Terroir Gin
1 ounce Mandarine Napoléon
1 ounce Cocchi Americano Rosa
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 dash absinthe
Shake all ingredients (except absinthe) together. Strain into absinthe-rinsed coupe glass.
— Faith Yi
