Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you have a lovely day (night?) of scary things (besides Trump), creepy happenings, and general merriment. Oh, and cocktails!
Surrounding this holiday, I saw a lot of different lists of cool black cocktails, so I made my own. Turns out activated charcoal is surprisingly expensive, but I think this came out pretty great, so it was worth it.
Also, if you haven’t seen Stranger Things, the source of this drink’s name, you should do it! Our friends had a Stranger Things themed Halloween party this weekend and it was great.
No news today, because Halloween.
The Upside Downer
(It’s easiest to make two at once — hence the weird 1/2 a capsule below.)
- 1.5 oz tequila
- 1.5 oz St. Germain
- .75 oz grapefruit juice
- 1/2 activated charcoal capsule
- float of port
- Combine all ingredients except the port in a cocktail shaker.
- Shake and strain into a coupe glass.
- Top with a bit of port poured over the back of a bar spoon, and an orchid.
- Enjoy, while waiting at your door for trick-or-treaters.
Tasting Notes:
BN: Very tasty! Not too sweet — which I was worried it was going to be, after having a taste pre-shaker — so make sure you shake it. Smooth and complex, and you can catch all the flavor notes (except, perhaps, for the tequila). A little heavy on the grapefruit for me (though, what did I expect — I’m not a grapefruit fan) but I really like the drink overall. Also, good for your stomach I guess. I wonder if the charcoal makes it smoother?
Visually, the port didn’t really add the color I was hoping for but it brought the tastes together in a nice way. And it looks so cool!
Could be interesting to try mescal in this instead of tequila. I feel like that smokiness would work well with the theme of the drink, as well as adding some more depth. Yum!
PiC: I like this. This is really good. Very smooth, very black. The grapefruit and the port are interesting together — not bad, just unusual — that’s what I’m tasting. It’s very Halloweeny. And strong! I already feel it, even if I don’t taste the alcohol.
The Boozy Newsie 