Recipe: Fun #Halloween Floating Cocktails!

"Black Magic" Cocktails

 In honor of some Very Special Guests at the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre I wanted to make some fun Halloween Cocktails, and "Googling" I found dozens of them (see links below)... and all the Really Cool ones seemed to use Blavod Black Vodka... which I have been trying to find here for years... Blavod is made in the UK, and gets it's cool black color from being infused with the South East Asian herb Black Catechu, extracted from the bark of the Acacia Tree. No one I know has Ever been able to find it in the USA, and putting food coloring in clear vodka did NOT work... so this year I decided to go all OCD about it, and I finally found a few liquor stores in the USA that have it online, but only ONE would deliver to West Virginia! And that one is M & D Fine Wines and Spirits:  https://www.mndfinewine.com/
Although Blavod is a relatively inexpensive vodka, at $22.99 a bottle, the shipping literally doubled the price! But I said wotthehell and ordered it anyway, had it in two days, and so was able to make some VERY cool Halloween cocktails for us and our guests, the first one being the "Black Magic", floating the Blavod Black Vodka over a mix of OJ and Triple Sec. I wet the rim of the glasses with orange juice and then dipped them in orange sugar (sugar with red and yellow food coloring), and topped it with an orange slice, and they came out so good first time around and were such a hit, that I decided to make a little "tutorial" here to prove that you CAN do this, too! Once you learn the trick of "layering" alcohol over a spoon, the Mixology World will be your oyster!
When I was a kid, I remember my family making layered cocktails with different liqueurs in tiny glasses at a family reunion; they were called "Pousse Cafes", and were so pretty to look at, as well as fun to make! The "trick" is knowing the "specific gravity" of different alcohols (i.e. which ones are heavier, and which ones are lighter), so you will know what to put in first and what to layer on top, so it will float! (If you put the heavy liqueur on top it will sink right into the lighter one...)  In the 1990s when the "B52" shot arrived in bars, that was the first time I'd seen a "layered cocktail" since the family reunion Pousse Cafes of my childhood! Now there are Dozens of layered cocktails out there, and just having a spoon and knowing heavy from light booze will enable you to create your own Mixology Masterpieces! Here are some cool websites for Mixology Inspo: 

• Specific Gravity Chart for Layering Drinks and Shots:  https://www.thespruceeats.com/layering-drinks-and-shots-gravity-chart-760326
• Over 30 Spooky Cocktails for Halloween:  https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2018/10/23/over-30-spooky-cocktails-that-are-perfect-for-halloween/23569709/
• Bloody Great Cocktails: https://gowiseproducts.com/blogs/gowise-blog/bloody-great-cocktails
• 15 Haunting Halloween Cocktails https://www.thespruceeats.com/haunting-halloween-cocktails-759881

"Black Magic" Cocktail

Ingredients:
Blavod Black Vodka
Orange Juice (NOTE: Thick orange juice with pulp works better than thin "regular", thin OJ)
Triple Sec (clear orange liqueur)
1 Orange, sliced, for garnish
Sugar
Red and Yellow Food Coloring (NOTE: you can make Black Sugar using red, green, and blue food coloring...)
Tools: a spoon; a small plate for the sugar; small jar to make the colored sugar; a small pitcher with a pouring lip (optional)

Instructions:
1. Slice the orange and cut the slices in half, as shown, for the garnish. Set aside.
2. Put the sugar in a small jar. Add a couple of drops of red and yellow food coloring, close the jar, and shake vigorously until the sugar is evenly colored. Add more drops of food coloring until you get the color you like. Put the sugar on a small plate.
3. Mix the OJ with Triple Sec in a pitcher. No measurements, as you do this to taste...
4. Dip the rim of each glass in orange juice and then in the colored sugar.
5. Pour the OJ/Triple Sec mixture into each glass.
6. You can pour the Black Vodka directly from the bottle, but it may be easier to pour it into a small pitcher with a pouring lip...
7. SLOWLY pour the vodka, over the back of a spoon, into the glass, so it floats on top of the OJ. See photo.
8. Slice the orange slice half-way so it will hang on the rim of the glass, and perch it on the rim as shown.
9. Serve!

Pouring the vodka over a spoon so it floats on the OJ

"Black Magic" Cocktails!

"Elkhorn Inn Wild Berry Magic" Cocktail

The next night, now back in full Bartender Mode (yes, I was one, a couple of times, in Israel, many moons ago- but in "Dive Bars" where we did Not make "layered cocktails" LOL), I decided to make another fun Halloween Cocktail, this one my of own creation: I call it the "Elkhorn Inn Wild Berry Magic"! I mixed Cranberry Juice Cocktail with the Wild Blackberry Puree that we had made from the wild blackberries we picked in the summer and froze. You could use any fruit juice or puree that strikes your fancy! The only trick is to have a juice that is heavier than the vodka, so the vodka will float on it.
1. Wet the rims of the glasses and dip them in red sugar, made the same way as above, only with red food coloring.
2. Mix Cranberry Juice Cocktail with Blackberry Puree (or other fruit juice or puree).
3. Pour the juice into each of the sugar-rimmed glasses.
3. Slowly and carefully float the Blavod Black Vodka on the juice in each glass, using the "over the spoon" technique described above.
4. Top each one with a Maraschino Cherry on a toothpick!

THEN- now in TRULY "Full Bartender Mode"- I created a cocktail in honor of our Italian guest, Mike: the "Elkhorn Inn Italian Magic": Blavod Black Vodka floating on Italian Pistachio Liqueur, with a black sugar rim!

The "Elkhorn Inn Italian Magic Cocktail"!

Have you made any cool "floating" cocktails? Let me know in the comments! 

Happy Halloween!