Blood-red punch doesn’t need a bottle of dye; it needs a beet. The same goes for a purple that looks cursed, an orange that looks like a pumpkin patch, and a blue tea that deepens to purple with a squeeze of lemon. These 13 drinks get their scare from what’s in the glass, plus one carefully handled bowl of fog. Pick a few, and your table will look haunted without reaching for the food coloring.
Blackberry Bramble
Simmer blackberries into a syrup, and the purple takes care of itself. The Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission shakes gin and lemon juice, strains it over crushed ice, and drizzles the blackberry syrup on top. The same page has a mocktail version.
Espresso Martini
Coffee gives you a near-black drink with no help. Shake vodka, fresh espresso, coffee liqueur, and a little simple syrup, then garnish with coffee beans. Check the liqueur label first. At least one popular brand adds caramel color, according to a grocery listing.
Grape Spritzer
Grapes make a spooky purple on their own. Welch’s muddles grapes, then shakes them with lime juice, grape juice, and ice. Top the glass with something fizzy.
Sweet Ube Latte
Ube is a Filipino purple yam, and a spoonful of the powder turns milk purple. Ember heats milk, simple syrup, and ube powder in a small saucepan and whisks until the foam looks light purple. Then it pours the mix over fresh espresso. Check your powder’s label for added color.
Beet Lemonade
Start this one three days ahead. Tito’s has you peel and cube beets, add them to a resealable container of its vodka, and shake it daily. Then shake the beet vodka with ice, lemonade, and honey, pour it over fresh ice, and top with sparkling water. Check the lemonade label for added color.
Hibiscus Mint Spritzer
Hibiscus tea brews red. Numi steeps two Hibiscus tea bags in a cup of hot water and lets it cool. Then it stirs in simple syrup and mint, shakes the mix with ice, and tops it with club soda.
Pomegranate Mimosa
POM Wonderful pours sparkling cider into a flute, adds half an ounce of 100% pomegranate juice, and tosses in a few pomegranate arils. The recipe lists no syrup, grenadine, or food coloring. Check your cider’s label before you pour.
Butterfly Pea Lemonade
This drink changes color in front of your guests. Steep butterfly pea flowers and the tea turns blue. Penn State Extension says the acidity of lemon enhances the color, creating a deep purple hue.
Spicy Matcha Margarita
Matcha goes spicy here. Bigelow brews two Matcha Green Turmeric tea bags and cools the tea for 20 minutes. Then it shakes 3.5 ounces of the tea with tequila, lime juice, agave, and jalapeño slices. Rim the glass with Tajín.
Carrot-Turmeric Pineapple Juice
Carrots contain beta-carotene, an orange pigment. Vitamix blends coconut water, a pineapple, three carrots, and slices of fresh turmeric and ginger for two and a half minutes.
Dry Ice Punch Bowl
Fog is the showstopper, and it needs a plan. Sub-Zero Dry Ice says to set a smaller bowl filled with punch inside a larger bowl of dry ice and water. Pour warm water over the dry ice for fog. The punch stays in its own bowl. The company also says to ventilate the room if you’re indoors. Poison Control says never to put dry ice directly in a drink, because it can burn the throat and mouth. It also says to wear gloves when you handle it.
Smoked Old Fashioned
You can get smoke without dry ice. Traeger smokes orange wheels for 30 minutes and pitted cherries for an hour on a pellet grill set to 180°F, using whiskey barrel pellets. Then it stirs bourbon with smoked simple syrup and bitters over ice and strains the drink over fresh ice.
Poison Apple Cocktail
Martinelli’s shakes vodka, pomegranate juice, lemon juice, and its own apple cider or apple juice with ice. Strain it into two glasses and add apple slices. The page calls it a blood-red witch’s brew for Halloween. Check your pomegranate juice label for added color.
Let the Ingredients Do the Haunting
The scare came from ingredients that already looked strange, and they changed the taste too, not just the color. Steal that for your own table: pick the strangest thing in your kitchen, build a drink around it, and let it do the haunting.