Lazy Tiger, an award-winning cocktail bar in St. Louis, MO, goes all out for Halloween each year with its pop-up bar, “Corpse Reviver.” Co-owner and beverage director Tim Wiggins actually shares his birthday with Halloween, so his creativity is on full blast for the holiday.
While plans shifted to to-go only in 2020 due to the pandemic, in 2019 Corpse Reviver served more than 5,000 cocktails in just two weeks—triple the amount of normal cocktail sales for Lazy Tiger. Corpse Reviver will be back at Lazy Tiger this year, with a haunted circus theme with crazy clown decor and a special menu of creative cocktails.
This year’s Corpse Reviver cocktails include:
Jack In The Box: People’s Gin, Aperol, passion fruit, strawberry, guava, falernum, exotic spice, lime, sparkling wine; served in an actual 3D-printed jack-in-the-box.
Whiskey Mocha Frappuccino: Rieger whiskey, Caffe Amaro, Averna Amaro, Sump coffee, roasted pumpkin, malted milk, spiced chocolate.
Ghost Malone: Rieger vodka, coconut, almond, pineapple, lime, ginger beer with a coco-caine (dehydrated coconut and sugar) rim.
Cereal Painkiller: Duckett Gold Rhum, pineapple, fresh banana, Fruit Loops, coconut, dragonfruit, lime and nutmeg.
What should you keep in mind when crafting Halloween drinks? “The use of color and seasonal flavors makes a big impact on Halloween cocktails,” says Wiggins.
For cocktails made with classic clear spirits, such as gin, mezcal, vodka and blanco tequila, “use juices such as carrot juice and grapefruit juice to impart bold colors and fall flavors,” he notes. For drinks with dark spirits (like whiskey), use a dark-colored Italian liqueur such as Averna Amaro to get your cocktails close to black for dramatic effect.
For example, the Oaxacan Dead cocktail uses mezcal, Aperol, carrot juice, passion fruit puree, red wine grenadine, lime juice and a touch of balsamic vinegar. “The combination of the mezcal, red-wine simple syrup, and carrot juice gives this cocktail depth, spice, and mystery for the holiday,” Wiggins says. “It tastes like fall and Halloween in a glass.”
Ingredients
- 1 ½ oz. El Yope mezcal
- ½ oz. Aperol
- 1 oz. Carrot juice
- ¼ oz. Passion fruit puree such as Perfect Puree
- ¾ oz. Red-wine grenadine
- ½ oz. Lime juice
- 1 bar spoon Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Make a red-wine simple syrup from any red wine you have on hand (equal parts red wine and sugar; bring to a simmer and cool).
- Combine all ingredients above and shake.
- Strain over crushed ice.
