Halloween cocktail names: 40 spooky ideas for your menu

How to choose a name that fits

1. Match the colour. A red drink becomes "Blood" or "Vampire", a green drink "Witch" or "Slime", a dark purple one "Poison" or "Potion".
2. Match the flavour. Pumpkin, cinnamon and apple suggest autumn; smoky Scotch suggests a graveyard.
3. Keep it short. Two or three words fit on a menu and are easy to order.
4. Add one line. A description with the main ingredients helps guests choose: "Vodka, cranberry and lime, topped with a lychee eyeball."
5. Avoid jokes about real tragedies, or names that make light of drinking too much. Keep it playful.

Witch and potion names

• Witches' Brew
• Cauldron Bubbler
• Broomstick Fizz
• Hocus Pocus Punch
• Poison Apple
• Eye of Newt
• Wicked Green Sour
• Midnight Potion
• Enchanted Elixir
• Toil and Trouble

Our own Witches' Brew is a smoky Scotch and sherry cocktail with a beet-red colour, a good example of a name that matches a dark, mysterious flavour.

Vampire and blood names

• Vampire's Kiss
• Blood Rising
• Bloody Sunset
• Crimson Fang
• Count Dracula's Spritz
• Red Moon Sour
• Fang Fizz
• Blood and Sand
• Dracula's Negroni
• Midnight Bite

Several of our recipes use this theme: Blood Rising, a blackberry-red whiskey cocktail, Devil's Blood, and the classic Blood and Sand.

Ghost and graveyard names

• Grave Digger
• The Apparition
• Ghost in the Glass
• Dead Man's Float
• Haunted Highball
• Boo-Hoo Colada
• Graveyard Mist
• Spirit Guide
• Corpse Reviver
• Tombstone Toddy

The Corpse Reviver #2 is a real classic cocktail, with gin, orange liqueur, aromatised wine and lemon, and the Grave Digger is a coffee and brandy dessert drink.

Pumpkin and autumn names

• Smashing Pumpkin
• Jack-o'-Lantern Punch
• Pumpkin Spice Spell
• Harvest Moon Sour
• Autumn Ghost
• Candy Corn Cooler
• Trick or Treat Martini
• Black Cat Old Fashioned
• Spooky Colada
• Devil's Margarita

You can see the full recipes in our Halloween cocktails collection, with names such as the Smashing Pumpkin, the Spooky Pumpkin Martini and the Jack-o'-Lantern Punch.

How to invent your own names

If none of the ideas above fits your drink, you can build a name in a few minutes. Start with the classic cocktail your drink is based on, then change one word: an Old Fashioned becomes an Old Fanged, a Moscow Mule a Mummy Mule, a Piña Colada a Pumpkin Colada. Another way is to mix two spooky words, such as a creature and a colour (Crimson Ghoul, Midnight Goblin), or a place and a verb (Haunted Hollow Fizz). Say the name out loud: if it is easy to order across a noisy room, it works.

Test the list on a friend. If they smile and ask what is in it, keep the name. If they have to ask what it means, choose a simpler one.

Names by spirit

If your menu is organised by base spirit, a theme per spirit keeps it tidy:

• Vodka: Vampire's Kiss, Ghost in the Glass, Midnight Bite
• Rum: Zombie Fuel, Dead Man's Float, Boo-Hoo Colada
• Tequila: Devil's Margarita, Black Widow, Wicked Green Sour
• Whisky: Witches' Brew, Black Cat Old Fashioned, Tombstone Toddy
• Gin: Corpse Reviver, Haunted Highball, Graveyard Mist
• Brandy and liqueur: Grave Digger, Poison Apple, Enchanted Elixir

A word on classics

Some spooky names are real cocktail history. The Corpse Reviver family is a group of classic drinks that bartenders once described as hangover cures, and Wikipedia has a short history of the family. Using a real classic name on your menu gives it a story, and you can pair it with a modern twist or a made-up name for the rest of the list.

Menu descriptions that sell

A name makes people curious, and a short line makes them order. Keep it to one sentence, and mention the main spirit, the flavour and one visual detail:

• Vampire's Kiss: vodka, cranberry and lime, topped with a lychee eyeball.
• Witches' Brew: smoky Scotch, sherry and lemon, deep beet red.
• Poison Apple Fizz: apple juice, ginger beer and lime with a dark sugar rim. Alcohol-free.

Names for punches and party bowls

Punch names can be larger and sillier, because the bowl is a centrepiece. Try "Witch's Cauldron", "Monster Mash Punch", "Swamp Water", "Goblin Juice" or "Zombie Fuel". Our guide to Halloween punch ideas has recipes to match these names.

Names for non-alcoholic drinks

Give alcohol-free drinks names of the same quality, so no one feels left out: "Bat Blood", "Spider Web Spritz", "Monster Slush" or "Poison Apple Fizz". There are recipes in our guide to non-alcoholic Halloween punch.

Writing your menu

Put the name first, then the spirit or main ingredient, then one line of description. Keep the same style for every drink, and mark any alcohol-free options clearly. For recipes, browse our Halloween drinks with alcohol, and the liqueur category.