When Boozing Gets Spooky

Grenadine syrup, the benign sweet dye for the virginal Shirley Temple, can stand in for spilt blood. Bored college bartenders learn that trick early on during their downtime, dripping it over a creamy shot of Bailey's for the appetizing Brain Hemorrhage. This is one of those brilliant bartender discoveries that only gets played out on Halloween, when drink-slingers can indulge their creepy cocktail fantasies—The Dead Baby Boy; The Necrophiliac's Dream—and foist it on a costumed public. All of a sudden, Jagermeister, with its opaque blackness and foul taste (they'll say licorice, but it's kind of what we imagine the undead barfing in your mouth would taste like) makes altogether too much of an appearance.

From the appetizing to the unquestionably nauseating, a look at what a few of our favorite watering holes are serving up this October 31st:

The Slide
Naked Vampire Martini, with black vodka, $8

Gstaad
Otto Martini (apple cider, spiced rum), $10
"Spooky shots", $4

Otto Shrunken Head (not particular to this holiday, but disgusting nonetheless)
Patty's Poison (rum and pineapple juice), $8
Zombies (orangey-red rum drink), $8
Stormy Skull (rum, ginger beer and coconut, served in a skull mug), $8

Flatiron Lounge
Halloween Flight, $18, including:
El Diablo (tequila cocktail with fresh ginger beer, Herradura Silver tequila, lemon, cassis)
Corpse Reviver #2 (Plymouth gin, Lillet, Cointreau, fresh lemon, herbsaint)
Tombstone Cocktail (Wild Turkey Rye, demerara syrup, angostura bitters, lemon twist)

Black & White
The Frankenstein (Jagermeister, cherry brandy, and Coke), $7

Orchid Lounge
Witches Brew (martini with pumpkin-spice-infused vodka, white Godiva liqueur, rimmed with a graham-cracker crust), $9
Citrus margarita with pomegranate, $5

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Also: Forget the Webster Hall $20 blowout afterparty with the sad Michael Jackson lookalike, forget Andy Bell breaking his Chains of Love over at GBH. We're calling out Asian-themed Orchid Lounge as the best party scheduled this Halloween, if only for, hold your breath—The Connie Chung Lookalike Contest. We don't care if that bar is empty, save for one Chung, two Chungs, Chung sucking down lemon shots, Chung circa the Dan Rather beatdown, or even Chung as a wee Chunglet. Sport the well-cultivated Asian power bob, and some day you too might have a crack at Maury Povich's crusty seed.