For easier bar prep, create a signature cocktail—and a non-alcoholic version—for your Halloween party. Make batches in advance, and you can even have poured glasses ready for the witching hour.
If you're trying to keep your holiday party simple, they suggest a simple menu of finger food and mixed drinks. Personally, I've never met anyone who could turn up their nose at a well-made Manhattan. BHG also suggests making Old-Fashioneds (conveniently many of the same ingredients). But this is Wisconsin so it's likely your guests will prefer a Brandy Old-Fashioned.
(From Off the Presses)
Brandy Old-Fashioned (From the Avenue Bar)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 dashes bitters
1-1/2 ounces brandy
7-Up
Spoon sugar into one 6-ounce cocktail glass. Add bitters. Dissolve quickly with a splash of 7-Up, then add brandy, followed by ice cubes. Top off with 7-Up, and garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino on a toothpick. (Good bartenders
skewer the orange slice from bottom to top with the cherry in the middle, which they call a "flag.")
But you know, you can have a Brandy Old-Fashioned anytime. This is Halloween. Anyone for a Zombie?
1/2 oz Bacardi® 151 rum
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice
1/2 oz apricot brandy
1 tsp sugar
2 oz light rum
1 oz dark rum
1 oz lime juice
Blend all ingredients with ice except Bacardi 151 proof rum. Pour into a collins glass. Float Bacardi 151 proof rum on top. Garnish with a fruit slice, sprig of mint and a cherry.
Or how about a vampire?
1 oz Chambord® raspberry liqueur
1 oz vodka
1 oz cranberry juice
Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice. Serve as shots in an old-fashioned glass.
Remember you ghouls, it's a different kind of scary when you drink and fly.
