Based on the classic Mai Tai recipe, this eerie twist not only adds color but also sweet hibiscus flavors to one of the most influential Tiki Drinks. A perfect drink to celebrate the spookiest day of the year.
Flavor-wise, the addition of hibiscus brings a beautiful floral fruitiness to the drink, which is a fun contrast to the appearance of this Halloween cocktail and fits the base flavors perfectly.
Ingredients
A traditional Mai Tai is made from the following ingredients:
- White Rum
- Lime juice
- Orgeat
- Triple Sec or Curaçao
- Dark Rum (float)
In this Halloween version, we add squid ink to the mix to achieve a dark black color in the drink. Additionally, we infuse the dark Rum with dried hibiscus flowers.
You have to allow some time to prepare the hibiscus-infused Rum float. Plan at least 10 minutes, but you can easily extend the infusion time to a few hours or even a day.
The longer the hibiscus flowers infuse, the more intense the hibiscus flavor and the color of your Rum float.
Also, as the flowers will soak in some liquid, use more than the 0.5 oz required for the recipe. You can even consider infusing a larger batch of Rum and use it up in the following weeks.
Making the drink black
Squid ink turns this drink into a spooky black. It is easy to use, flavorless, and risk-free. You can simply add it to the other ingredients and start shaking.
If you're not a fan of that, there are two alternatives. The first is activated charcoal and the second is black food coloring.
While I like eating or drinking things made with charcoal, it does come with two catches:
Charcoal doesn't dissipate completely and remains grainy in your drink. That is not a huge deal, but it still affects the experience.
Second, consuming activated charcoal can have side effects if you or someone you will be serving the drink to is under medication. Therefore, you should check that before using it to color your cocktails.
If you want to avoid charcoal and squid ink, you can always go with food coloring. Personally, I don't like artificial cocktail ingredients very much. But it's a viable best alternative.
How to make the Black & Bloody Mai Tai
As with a regular Mai Tai, shaking this Halloween version slightly differs from standard recipes. For one, you shake it with crushed ice.
Crushed ice chills your drink faster but also melts quicker. So, limit the shaking to only a few seconds. About 5-8 are alright. That's enough to get your drink ice cold.
Usually, you would strain the drink. However, in this case, you don't. You "dirt dump" the drink into your glass. -Dirty dumping simply means that the full content of a shaker goes into your glass.
Then fill up the glass with more ice and carefully float the cocktail with our hibiscus-infused dark Rum. Et voila, a spooky Halloween Mai Tai is ready to be served.
More Halloween cocktails
Making spooky cocktails is a great way to celebrate Halloween with your friends. This Black & Bloody Mai Tai is one of our favorites, but there are many more tasty themed drinks.
So, if you need inspiration, here are some great cocktail recipes for drinks for your Halloween party.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz White Rum
- 0.75 oz Orange Curacao
- 0.75 oz Lime juice
- 0.5 oz Orgeat
- 0.5 oz Hibiscus-infused Dark, aged Rum
- 1 bsp Squid ink
Instructions
- Before making the drink, infuse dark Rum with dried hibiscus flowers. Depending on the desired hibiscus intensity, this can take any time between 10 minutes to 24 hours. Check regularly to get the perfect amount of flavor for you.
- Add White Rum, Orange Curaçao, lime juice, orgeat, and squid ink into a cocktail shaker with crushed ice.
- Shake for 5 to 8 seconds and "dirt dump" the contents of the shaker into your glass.
- Fill up with more crushed ice and float with hibiscus-infused dark Rum.