Happy Halloween!

Here we are on the 31st day of October, ready to make our 31st Halloween cocktail. What a long strange trip it’s been.

I’m about to settle down on the sofa with my wife (aka Mrs Columbo) and we’re going to watch Hocus Pocus. Neither of us has seen this 30-year-old movie, but we’re told it’s one of the few Halloween movies that both of us could appreciate. Besides, a couple of years ago I visited the location where the movie is set (Salem, Mass.), and it should be fun to see if I can recognize any of the buildings.

But before settling down for the movie, I have one more cocktail to make. I tried to select a final cocktail using some of the lessons I’ve learned this month. To wit:

• Creamy concoctions seem to beat out the less viscous drinks in terms of taste.
• The drink’s container helps to set the mood.
• Gimmicks are good.
• Avoid Chartreuse at all costs.

Accordingly, I’ve found the following Halloween cocktail that seems to incorporate all those lessons. Here we go!

The Recipe: The “Ghostbuster Cocktail” is made as follows: First, you have to make a little ghost. Whip up some whipped cream (heavy whipping cream and sugar), and put it in a piping bag. Now, pipe out a ghost shape on a silicone mat. Add eyes using black icing, and freeze it in the freezer.

For the drink itself, fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add 2 oz vodka, 1 oz Bailey’s Irish cream, and 1 oz. Kahlua. Shake it up (as Rick Ocasek would say) and pour into a hollowed-out small pumpkin that will serve as a cup. Seat the ghost on the rim of the pumpkin.

The Ratings: The appearance is great–You have a pumpkin and a ghost. What more could you want? This screams Halloween. Four points.

The taste is less exciting. This strongly tastes of Bailey’s. The vodka just adds alcohol without imparting any real taste, and the Kahlua just gives a slight coffee flavor. This is mainly Bailey’s. Which is fine, but it reminds me of St. Pat’s rather than Halloween. The taste gets only 2 points.

The name is kind of fun. People my age (i.e., who were born during the Kennedy Administration) remember Ghost Busters well, as an innovative and fun comedy/horror movie. And the little ghost on the side of the pumpkin echoes that theme. Two points.

Grand Total: 8 points

Now, for those of you who are interested, here’s the scores for all of this month’s drinks:

	Name	Appearance	Taste	Name	Total
Oct 1	Pumpkin Martini	3	3.5	1	7.5
Oct 2	Dark N Stormy	2	4	2	8
Oct 3	Haunted Graveyard	2	3	2	7
Oct 4	Herman	1	0	2	3
Oct 4	Lily	2	1.5	1.5	5
Oct 5	Corpse Reviver	0	0	2	2
Oct 6	Pumpkin Old Fashioned	2	2.5	1	5.5
Oct 7	Witches Brew	0	4	2	6
Oct 8	Absinthe/Green Fairy	4	2	2	8
Oct 9	Necromancers Martini	2	2.5	2	6.5
Oct 10	Halloween Jell-O Shot	3.5	3	0	6.5
Oct 11	N/A–Poe Trip
Oct 12	Zombie	1	2	2	5
Oct 13	Wolf BIte	2.5	3.5	1.5	7.5
Oct 14	Beetlejuice Cocktail	3	1	1	5
Oct 15	Smokey Cauldron	4	3.5	2	9.5
Oct 16	Vampire Kiss	3	1	2	6
Oct 17	Halloween Candy Corn Cocktail	1	0	0	1
Oct 18	Pumpkin Spice Mudslide	2	2	0	4
Oct 19	Zombie Socketini	3	3	2	8
Oct 20	Nightmare on Bourbon St	3	4	2	9
Oct 21	Death in the Afternoon	2	1.5	2	5.5
Oct 22	Headless Horseman	3	3	2	8
Oct 23	Black Magic Margarita	2.5	4	1.5	8
Oct 24	Jack Skellington	2.5	4	1.5	8
Oct 25	Screwed-up screwdriver	3.5	1.5	0	5
Oct 26	Green Ghost	0	0	2	2
Oct 27	Hell Fire	3.5	4	2	9.5
Oct 28	Don Muerte	2	3	1.5	6.5
Oct 29	Otto’s 1923	3	3.5	0	6.5
Oct 30	Smoke Mirrors and Colors	3	4	1	8
Oct 31	Ghostbuster Cocktail	4	2	2	8

As you can see, the #1 drink in terms of appearance was a tie between the Absinthe, the Smokey Cauldron, and the Ghostbuster Cocktail. The #1 drink in terms of taste is a tie between the Dark N Stormy, the Witches Brew, Nightmare on Bourbon Street, Black Magic Margarita, Jack Skellington, Hellfire, and Smoke/Mirrors/Colors. The drink with the highest total score is a tie between the Smokey Cauldron and the Hell Fire.

Thank you to everyone who stuck with me through this experiment, and thanks especially to those who provided feedback or offered their own suggestions. I have something even bigger and better planned for October 2023, so that’s something for you to look forward to (or not). I now turn this blog back over to its primary function as a travelogue.