This spooky Blood Moon Boulevardier Halloween cocktail is a riff on the classic boulevardier, which is bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth. This drink replaces the sweet vermouth with a spiced wine syrup flavored with cinnamon, clove, star anise, and orange. It is the perfect balance of bitter, sweet, and spicy!
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I love themed cocktails. Just check out this Butterbeer Old Fashioned or this Hades Snare cocktail. I think the best festive halloween drinks are full of fall spices like cinnamon and clove, and this has that in spades.
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Key Ingredients
- Bourbon: Bourbon is the key ingredient in any bourbon smash, so using the best one that goes well with the pumpkin butter is key. A sweet but well-balanced bourbon is my favorite. I used Woodford Reserve for this version.
- Campari: Campari is the Italian vibrant Italian bitter, it is similar to Aperol but much more bitter.
- Red wine: for this cocktail, we are switching out the sweet vermouth for a red wine syrup. My perfered wine is something mild like a Pinot Noir.
- Spices: cinnamon, clove, star anise, and orange arr used to spice and flavor the wine.
How to make this recipe:
- Step 1: Start by making the spiced wine syryp. Add 1 cup red wine, 1 cup sugar, 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 whole cloves, 1 star anise, and 3 inch orange peel to a small pot. Cook on medium until all the sugar has melted and the mixture has thickened (about 30 minutes), then let cool.
- Step 2: Add 1 ounce bourbon, 1 ounce of campari, and 1 ounce of the spiced wine syrup to a mixing glass with ice. Stir tocombine. (optional: add red edible glitter.
- Step 3: Pour into a coupe glass with a circle ice cube and serve!
dients do/don't stand up well to freezing for X days/weeks/months.
Top Tips
Suggested Barware: Use a jigger to measure your bourbon and syrup accurately.
Store the remaining syrup in a sealed container in a refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Suggested wine: my favorite version of this syrup was made with Pinot Noi
Blood Moon Boulevardier
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 1 drink 1x
- Category: cocktail
- Method: stirred
- Cuisine: american
Description
This spooky Blood Moon Boulevardier Halloween cocktail, is a riff on the classic boulevardier, which is bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth. This drink replaces the sweet vermouth with a spiced wine syrup flavored with cinnamon, clove, star anise, and orange. It is the perfect balance of bitter, sweet, and spicy!
Ingredients
For the syrup
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 cinamon sticks
- 3 cloves
- 1 star anise
- 1 3 inch orange peel
Instructions
- Start by making the spiced wine syryp. Add 1 cup red wine, 1 cup sugar, 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 whole cloves, 1 star anise, and 3 inch orange peel to a small pot. Cook on medium until all the sugar has melted and the mixture has thickened (about 30 minutes), then let cool.
- Add 1 ounce bourbon, 1 ounce of campari, and 1 ounce of the spiced wine syrup to a mixing glass with ice. Stir to combine. (optional: add red edible glitter.
- Pour into a couple glass with a circle ice cube.
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