When it comes to crafting themed cocktails and beverages, few of the holidays offer as much creative fun as Halloween.
Sure, New Year’s Eve libations will inevitably include some sparkle, and Independence Day beverages will offer plenty of red, white and blue. But can they provide spooky special effects and a bit of a scare?
No, they cannot.
“Generally, I think bartenders are obsessed with making drinks that are sophisticated, classy and beautiful,” says Aneka Saxon, beverage director for Wicker Park’s Machine: Engineered Dining and Drink, and Headquarters Beercade in River North. “Halloween gives us permission to be ugly, bold.”
Here, we offer 10 places in Chicago to celebrate Halloween with festive, frightening beverages front and center.
Machine: Engineered Dining & Drink
The dining and cocktail destination (1846 W. Division) offers a number of ways to celebrate Halloween, including an eerily elegant four-course dinner and a Spooky Boo-quets workshop and wine tasting.
And then there’s Saxon’s Black Hearts Club communal cocktail ($49). Inspired by her favorite classic cocktail, the daiquiri, this drink is made with Ron Cihuatan Artesano 10-year-old pineapple rum with Ron Cihuatan Jade white rum, fresh lime juice, Campari and a small spoonful of activated charcoal, the latter of which turns the drink black.
Saxon first tried using squid ink to get the dark hue but found its flavor off-putting. The drink is shaken and finished with a splash of soda water. It’s served in a heart-shaped glass and garnished with a white rose.
“To make a great Halloween cocktail, you have to take into account visual appeal more than the ingredients in my opinion,” says Saxon. “I gravitate towards dark colors like black and dark red contrasted with stark white.”
The Cauldron Chicago
While only open since May, Wicker Park’s spooky venue (1612 W. Division) is no stranger to showcasing the otherworldly side of things. An immersive, wizard-themed bar and restaurant, the London-based chain specializes in potion-making classes and fantasy-inspired cocktails. But for Halloween, they go all out.
“It’s our favorite time of year, and we are pulling out all the stops,” says co-founder Dave Duckworth. As part of The Veil ($62.99 adults, $56.99 students 21+), its Halloween potions experience, guests partake in a cocktail sampling, including two especially spooky drinks: an eerie Ectoplasm Shot of Death and the interactive Maleficaria. Inspired by different levels of ingredient density, the Ectoplasm has a base of white chocolate crème de cacao and a layer of cream liqueur on top. A drop of grenadine sinks through the layers creating strands of red in the drink. The Maleficaria is a shimmering peach and bourbon martini served with DIY dark, blackberry-flavored boba spheres.
CH Bar & Table
As if Chicago’s homegrown spirit Malort wasn’t divisive already, the West Loop’s CH Bar & Table (564 W. Randolph) is offering a limited-edition shot of its Pumpkin Spice Malort ($8) until the end of the month or until it runs out. Even if you’re not a fan of Malort or pumpkin spice, it will go down easier knowing that all proceeds from the 1.5-ounce shot will be donated to Punk Rock Saves Lives, a nonprofit that promotes punk rock events that focus on mental wellness, equal rights and human rights.
Gordon Ramsay Burger Chicago
At the tony River North burger spot (2 E. Ontario St.) from the award-winning British celebrity chef, Halloween appreciation comes in the form of October’s Spooky Shake ($9) special. The decadent blueberry custard creation is topped with orange and green chocolate sauces, whipped cream and eyeball-like sprinkles. Fiery, F-bomb-laden commentary not included.
Headquarters Beercade
For Halloween, the River North video game-filled spot (213 W. Institute Pl.) is featuring a Malice in Wonderland popup with five themed cocktails ($13) with names like We’re All Mad Here, Curiouser and Curiouser, Painting the Roses Red, and Who. Are. You?
Inspired by the scene in “Alice in Wonderland” where Alice drinks a potion that changes her size, the Drink Me includes the locally brewed Vera pistachio cream ale from Around the Bend Beer Co., aged rum, fresh lemon juice, honey and agave nectar strained into a mushroom-shaped glass and finished with the ale.
Fight Club
Or perhaps you’d like some competitive dart throwing as part of your Halloween celebration? On October 24, the venue (111 W. Wacker Dr.) debuts its Blood and Smoke cocktail, made with a mix of beet, mezcal, chile vodka and agave. On Oct. 28, Fight Club will morph into a haunted darts haven with specialty themed desserts, décor and a costume contest.
CSK Chicago
The celebration is less spooky at fast-casual Lincoln Park spot (1224 W. Webster), which is featuring a special milkshake inspired by Charlie Brown. Served in a giant mug, the Great Pumpkin Monster Shake ($27.75) is a pumpkin pie shake topped with a salted caramel cake bar and mini warm pineapple upside-down cake.
Museum of Ice Cream
Kids and adults feel the Halloween love at the Mag Mile’s emporium (435 N. Michigan). Festive sweet treats feature, natch, ice cream and include The Dark Cone, a chocolate soft serve topped with gummy eyeballs, and a selection of sundaes featuring meringue ghosts, gummy bugs and licorice bats. On the drinks side, the junior set will appreciate the Bloody Shirley Temple, a non-alcoholic drink made with lemonade and grenadine and served in an IV bag. For adults, there’s The Black Widow. Presented in a bubbling cauldron, it combines Tequila Sauza, Triple Sec, blackberry puree and sour pucker powder.
After
Looking for a more elegant way to celebrate Halloween? At the West Loop’s After, (1338 W. Fulton) — the sister cocktail lounge to Ever, the two-Michelin starred restaurant next door — guests can indulge in six Halloween-inspired cocktails — ranging from a Spooky Old Fashioned (tequila, hibiscus skull, orange) and Witch’s Cauldron (mezcal, beet, strawberry amaro) to Zombie (rum, grapefruit), as well as six small plates from the menu tweaked slightly to add to the Halloween theme. Also a celebration of After’s one-year anniversary, the Oct. 28 Halloween party ($125) includes a costume contest with the winner receiving a gift certificate for dinner for two at Ever.
Bamboo Club
Nightmare on Clark Street returns to this Wrigleyville establishment (3505 N. Clark St.) nightly through the end of the month. Parts of the three-story venue and its patio are transformed into a multilevel house of horrors for the haunted immersive experience ($19.95 GA, $29.95 VIP). Fright-phobes can skip the spine-tingling spectacle and hang in the bar sipping on Jell-O shots in syringes or spooky cocktails such as Freddy’s Tequila, The Monster Mash and Dracula’s Blood.
