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halloween

The Sophisticated and Spooky Halloween Jazz Playlist

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Halloween Jazz Playlist

Halloween music can be a bit tricky, everything ends up being a bit camp, which depending on what type of party you are hosting might not work. We had a think about this and spent dome time putting together our Halloween Jazz Playlist.  To put this list together we looked through the classic standards, pulling out the best and diving a bit deeper to discover some quirkier, spooky tunes to add a bit of fun into the mix. If you are having a more sophisticated Halloween soiree this might be, right up your street? Get your costume on, grab a spooky cocktail and enjoy our Halloween Jazz Playlist here.

Halloween Jazz PlaylistHalloween Jazz Playlist

 

Halloween Jazz Playlist
29th October 2016
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Cocktail of the Week | Purple Monster

Purple Monster

With Halloween creeping ever closer, the ghoulish activities start to take over. We have pulled out the ‘BOO’ candleholder and our pumpkin is going to be carved this weekend. We have also started to stock up on the treats for any trick or treating monsters that might appear at our door!  Any excuse for a party also means a need for a cocktail.  With that in mind, we decided to try our hand at making our own Halloween themed cocktail.  For our creation, this week’s cocktail is the ‘Purple Monster’.

We have been making cocktails each week for six months now and hopefully something has started to rub off on our own skills in cocktail making.  Here’s hoping our researching, mixing and sampling will pay off! Additionally, looking in the drinks cabinet we found some of the lesser-used bottles and tried to find a cocktail to make use of them.  I am not entirely sure what we will be making from the Amarula, but the rest are suitably coloured to make something interesting!  We found a few cocktails that used the ingredients we have, but none that we wanted to try leading us to give our own mix a go.  Based on our knowledge of colours we started out to make a purple drink.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

  • One measure of curacao
  • One measure of spiced rum
  • One measure of cranberry juice
  • ½ measure of pineapple juice
  • Ice

Add the curacao, rum, cranberry and pineapple juice to a shaker filled with ice and shake well. Add some ice to a glass and pour the mix in. Nothing fancy to creating this week’s cocktail the Purple Monster.

The drink gives a suitable purple/black colour for a Halloween themed cocktail. The fruit flavours from the cranberry, pineapple and curacao do come through with the rum giving a pleasant kick. Sadly not a classic like the many we have tried, but with a bit of tweaking, we might have something!

Purple Monster

Purple Monster

27th October 2016
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Cocktail of the Week | Pumpkin Cocktail

Pumpkin Cocktail

After making a pumpkin cake using our Nordic Ware bundt tin we found ourselves sitting with a few teaspoons of pumpkin purée.  Rather than waste it, we decided to create a cocktail using it.  There are very few pumpkin flavoured ones, but did take inspiration from Serious Eats and came up with our own Pumpkin Cocktail.

The pumpkin is ubiquitous with Autumn.  It has received a massive push in the last few years thanks to a certain coffee based drink!  None the less, it is a great ingredient to use for many things. Calum has been known to make a pumpkin and chilli ravioli in addition to the pumpkin cakes and soups.  We also like to carve our pumpkins for Halloween, so keep an eye out for efforts in the next few weeks!  We may find a need to try a different pumpkin cocktail when we do!

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

  • 2 tsp Pumpkin purée
  • 1 measure Vanilla vodka
  • 1 measure Pressed apple juice
  • Ginger beer
  • Ice

Take the pumpkin purée, vanilla vodka and the pressed apple juice and pour into a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake the mix well before pouring the mix into a tall glass with some ice.  Fill the glass with the ginger beer.  Add a straw and there you have our pumpkin cocktail.

The drink has a lovely smooth taste and certainly would be a hit and any Halloween or autumnal party! It even has Rich’s Mum’s seal of approval!

Pumpkin Cocktail Pumpkin Cocktail Pumpkin Cocktail

Pumpkin Cocktail
6th October 2016
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