Poisoned Apple – Dry Ice Scotch Halloween Cocktail

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Last Updated on November 2, 2023 by Leah Hall

With fall coming in with full force, we know you will be looking for dry ice cocktails for parties! Here’s a Scotch Halloween Cocktail to get you started!

 

When the weather starts to turn cool and the leaves turn beautiful colors in our neck of the woods, that means apples! When it gets to be fall here in Nebraska, lots of families plan trips to the local orchards to pick apples, experience a hay rack ride and sip on fresh apple cider. While all that fun fall festivities are taking place, it also means that there is another fall favorite starting up, Halloween!

We adore this time of year, if you couldn’t tell by all our fun Halloween cocktails! Some of our favorite drinks are Halloween drinks, especially Halloween cocktails with dry ice. We have our Vampire’s Cynar Negroni with Dry Rye Reposado Gin and Strawberry-infused Campari and a flaming rosemary sprig. Or, our Blood Bag Punch Cocktail served in plastic IV bags. Or, a Zombie Blood version, too with a unique flavor.

 

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One of our good friends always has a big Halloween party where costumes are mandatory, the games ridiculous enough to get ensure everyone gets a laugh and everyone has a fun time. Naturally we want to do our part and we can’t only show up in costume! We also want to bring something fun and spooky to drink that will help set the mood. Try some more like our Halloween Punch, Blue Halloween Cocktail, or Eye Candy!

We were looking for a costume theme for this years party and hit on the idea of a mad professor! The mad professor theme worked out really well for us as we had found these really great little novelty glassware that looked like lab beakers, which just might be perfect for serving a fun Halloween-themed drink out to our friends!

Scotch Halloween Cocktail

To make these dry ice cocktail recipes, we started out using a bit of fresh local apple cider. Apple cider is one of those flavors that really fits its season.

 

We think it is pleasingly tart with a crispness that feels like the chill of a fall morning, while still having enough sweetness that it is a real treat. Apple cider pairs well with all kinds of spirits which makes it a great mixer in cocktails.

This is especially found in cocktails with warm brown spirits like scotch or bourbon in fall and winter cocktails. So, it perfectly fits with this Scotch Halloween Cocktail! Or, this Nightmare on Whisky Street Halloween cocktail. Otherwise, we have some great Scotch cocktails for you: Peaty Pera, Tartan, Blood and Sand, Ginger Snap, and the Black Scot.

 

Speaking of warm brown spirits, we went with a combination of Scotch and amaretto as the base of this cocktail. The amaretto brings a sweet nutty character to these dry ice cocktails (remember the dry ice is optional here!) It seems to counter the natural tartness of the apple cider. A splash of Scotch whisky brings a dark toasty edge and the peaty smoke flavor reminded us of a cool fall evening around a fire pit with friends!

We wanted the Poisoned Apple cocktail to be an eye catcher. While apple cider, scotch and amaretto make for a great flavor combination, the tan color isn’t bright and flashy! We know that a bright color is a good way to make a drink stand out, especially at a party! So of course, we decided to mix in another great fall flavor, cranberry juice.

 

Not only was the cranberry juice a nice red, the addition of the cranberry juice bringing just the right amount of sourness that rounded out these dry ice drinks. Then, we wanted to punch up the red color, so we used some Peychaud’s Bitters that add some great red color to the drink!

What Ingredients are Needed for the Poisoned Apple Cocktail?

• Amaretto – this sweet and nutty liqueur is a great sweet ingredient for this Halloween cocktail. Pairs well with the Scotch and with the cranberry juice, and good for your taste buds.
• Laphroaig Scotch  – we used Laphroaig 10 year. This 10 year malt whisky has a thin and light peaty flavor, not a super punch you in the mouth peat flavor. There is a bit of citrus and honey in the flavor, which works well with the other ingredients, but adds the smoky flavor we were looking for, ala a campfire kiss of smoke.
• Cranberry Juice – cranberry is such a great fall and winter flavor we love to use. This light juice is an easy addition and gives some light color.
• Apple Cider – we live in a region that has a LOT of apple orchards, so we can get a lot of different kinds of apple cider. From Honeycrisp (sweeter) to Gala to even sour green apple cider options, we can find them all. For this ingredient, we are leaning more middle of the road, Gala apple cider, to slightly sweeter, Honeycrisp. You can go more sour, but the drink won’t be as balanced.
• Peychaud’s Bitters – (for the red color) These Peychaud’s bitters add the ability to drink with your eyes first before sipping. Gives a great red color and brightness to the drink. They also add some fall flavors with hints of licorice, cherry and clove.

 

A healthy dose of Peychaud’s Aromatic Bitters brought the finishing touch, with the hints of licorice (hey this is a Halloween drink after all!) tart cherry and clove. They bring a complex bit of floral bitterness to the Professor’s Poisoned Apple. Not only does the Peychaud’s bring a great flavor, it also happens to have a nice red color that when combined with the cranberry juice turns the cocktail a brilliant red.

Plus, adding bitters from their ornately decorated bottle gives just the right theatrical flair that works for a cocktail named the Professor’s Poisoned Apple!

 

How to Make the Scotch Halloween Cocktail

You will need a cocktail shaker for this Halloween Recipe. Combine all your ingredients in the shaker with ice.

 

Shake and strain, strain into glass with ice. Garnish.

See how easy that is? This definitely could be scaled up into a large punch bowl or pitcher for a crowd, too!

 

Halloween Party Effects

While the flavors were spot on, with these dry ice cocktails being for a Halloween Party, we had to make sure that we went to the next level and added a bit of flair to the final presentation. Adding a few chips of dry ice to the cocktail just before serving will get the cocktail bubbling away like some magic potion, and clouds of vapor to erupt from the top of the glass! (See our note below!)

 

Try our creepy Specimen Cocktails, too!

 

Combine this with the bright red color and you definitely have eye catching dry ice cocktails that look like it is right out of a mad professor’s lab! Cheers to this Scotch Halloween Cocktail at your next party with the addition of dry ice. But…..

One note of caution, always wait till the dry ice has stopped bubbling before consuming the cocktail as dry ice is extremely cold and could cause someone to get frostbite should they let it touch their lips or tongue! The dry ice smoke is fun, but can be dangerous, read below for safety tips in using dry ice for drinks.

 

NOTE: drinking dry ice is not safe! If you add it to a drink, make sure it is completely dissolved before drinking the cocktail. This may mean waiting several minutes for it to do so. It is a safer option to use a larger chunk of dry ice in a bowl with warm water to give the effect of the dry ice in the area you are serving. Use caution and always use gloves and use tongs when handling dry ice. Just skip it altogether if safety precautions can’t be followed. 

 

Tips & Tricks

• Ice – this is not an up drink. It tastes best served over ice, so if not using the dry ice to chill like we did, shake and pour this cocktail over ice in your glass.
• Garnish – we think some great garnishes for this cocktail would be some fanned apple slices, 1 single apple slice, or cranberries floating on top.
• Scotch – you can use any Scotch that you like. But, we did use an Islay Scotch with some peat. So, while lowlands (see all about Scotland regions here) is tasty, you want to have a peated Scotch for the flavor. 
• Glassware – these are fun served in these beakers. But, if you don’t want those, rocks glasses or large tumblers work, too!

 

Other Halloween Cocktails

• Grindelwald’s Goblet
• Polyjuice Potion
• Bloody Bramble
• Bourbon Butterbeer
• Halloween Aviation
• Garden of Magic
• Unicorn Blood
• Margarita Float

 

Pair it with our Halloween Charcuterie for a winning party combo! Or, a fun Hocus Pocus Cocktail or Halloween Pumpkin Cocktail are great choices, too!

 

Cheers!

 

Also, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and tag #gastronomcocktails so we can see all the wonderful recipes YOU recreate from this site!

 

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Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

Bourbon Butterbeer

 

Halloween Oreo Monster Brownies

 

Other Halloween Dry Ice Cocktails

• Sassy Witch’s Brew Cocktail – Pizzazzerie
• Blackberry Sage Margarita – Wicked Spatula

Other Halloween Whiskey Cocktails

• The Grave Digger – Boulder Locavore
• Poison Apple – The Little Epicurean
• Hocus Pocus Drink
• Love Potion #9 – The Southern Halloween Queen
• Witches Blood – Sprinkles and Sprouts

Interested in stocking your own home bar? Make sure to see our favorites at our Amazon Store!

 

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