Easy Cocktail Recipes Inspired by 'The Day of the Dead'

By Lauren Fischer for Las Fabulosas

Host a party for El Dia de los Muertos the festive way, with these five tasty and easy cocktails recipes that will get the party started. “When creating a good cocktail for parties, make sure your flavors are consistent with the theme,” says Ion, head mixologist at Yerba Buena Avenue A. And don’t forget the green-slime guacamole and chips for guests to snack on.

Blood-red sangria

Sangria is not only an easily prepared crowd-pleasing cocktail, but also has an interestingly spooky meaning; this refreshing beverage’s literal Latin understanding translates to bleeding.

Orange, sliced thin

Lemon, sliced thin

Lime, sliced thin

Apple, sliced thin

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup triple sec

¼ cup brandy

1 bottle of dry red wine

Mix wine, brandy, triple sec, sugar in pitcher until sugar is dissolved. Add fruit and let chill for 2 to 4 hours.

Dark and stormy

Skip the “dark” rum for this spooky cocktail, and opt for a festive spiced option to add a little kick to your fiesta. Serving this fizzy libation in a goblet will add some ghoulish flair.

2 ounces spiced rum (can substitute for the true “dark” rum)

8 ounces ginger beer

Put ice in a highball glass. Add in rum and beer, and garnish with a lime.

Chocolate martini

An adult version of trick-or-treating goodies, this dessert cocktail is really paying homage to explorers of the Spanish Conquest. Chocolate has been used as a drink for centuries tracing back to one of its first recorded uses in Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC.

Chocolate sauce or syrup (to dip rim of glass)

Sugar

2 ounces chocolate liqueur

1 ½ ounce vodka

Ice

Dip martini glass rim in chocolate sauce, then sugar. Fill shaker with ice, and add chocolate liqueur and vodka. Shake and pour into glass.

El Kookooee (The Boogeyman)

From Ion at Yerba Buena Avenue A: pumpkin spice adds a celebratory dimension to your cocktail list at any fall festivity.

Pisco

Rye whiskey

Pumpkin spice liqueur

Cordials and lime juice

Mix ingredients in shaker and pour into highball glass.

Bloody Maria

Put a Latin spin on the classic vodka cocktail by subbing-in spicy tequila for a bloody Maria.

1 ounce tequila

1 lemon wedge

4 ounces tomato juice

Squirt of lime juice

3 to 5 drops hot sauce

3 to 5 drop Worcestershire sauce

Celery stick for garnish

Dash of celery salt

Add ingredients to chilled shaker with ice. Mix ingredients and strain into a highball glass. Garnish with lemon wedge and celery.

Lauren Fischer   is a freelance writer who has contributed to Woman’s World, People, Makeup Deal of the Day and SavvyMiss.com.