Halloween Cocktails – For Your Eyes Only Martini series

As we draw ever closer to the spookiest night in the calendar, we thought we’d bring you a couple of soothing cocktails to help blank out anything that goes bump in the night. Inspired by the ever-awesome Martha Stewart, here’s our For Your Eyes Only Martini range.

I remember when I was a kid I had a book on cool party game ideas. It was aimed at boys between 6-11, so it most mostly gross. But this cocktail idea had me thinking about the ‘haunted at midnight’ party game from my book.

Basically, you’d get your friends to sit in a circle and turn all the lights off. Then you’d have to try and work out what ‘body parts’ your mum had put in a bowl just by touching them. There were things like dried apricots pretending to be dismembered ears and a bowl of cold porridge imitating brains… and peeled grapes for eyeballs.

I never played the party game but it’s stuck with me, and these cocktail garnishes really took me back.

We thought the name For Your Eyes Only was the perfect fit for these vodka martinis – it brings a whole new, more sinister angle to the James Bond classic.

For these cocktails, we couldn’t think of a spirit that would be a better fit than the Crystal Head vodka with its iconic bottle. It must be a busy time of year for those guys!

The Detached Retina

Here’s what you need:

• 2 parts Crystal Head vodka
• 1/2 – 1 part dry vermouth depending on how dry you want your martini
• 1 x radish
• 1 x pimento-stuffed olive

Here’s what you do for the eyeballs:

1. Cut the top off the radishes and use a peeler to shave off the red skin to about 2/3 to the bottom. Leave little strips of skin showing to give the radish a bloodshot look.

2. Core out a chunk from the top of the radish with a knife. It needs to be big enough to hold about half an olive.

3. Push an olive into the hole, then trim the bit that’s sticking out with a sharp knife.

Here’s what you do for the drink:

1. Pour the vermouth and vodka into a cocktail shaker over ice and shake.

2. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an ‘eyeball’.

A Sight for Sore Eyes

Here’s what you need:

• 1 1/2 parts Crystal Head Vodka
• 1/2 – 1 part lychee liqueur depending how sweet you want your martini
• 1 x lychee peeled and pitted – or buy them in a tin ready-prepared
• 1 x blueberry

Here’s what you do for the eyeballs:

1. Push a blueberry into the pit cavity of the lychee – it’s that simple!

Here’s what you do for the drink:

1. Pour the vodka and lychee liqueur into a cocktail shaker over ice and shake.

2. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an ‘eyeball’.

For a bit added extra gore, you can drip some maraschino cherry juice or liqueur into the glass to make it look a bit bloody!

If you’re more of a gin martini drinker (The Gin Queen, I’m looking at you), I think the savoury garnish of the radish eyeballs would work really well here.

I’m still not sure if the radish eyeballs are just for show or if they should be eaten. I ate mine, but Mrs Romance wasn’t too keen. She was much more interested in the lychees and blueberries!

As we mentioned, this idea is from Martha Stewart and all her craftiness. Here’s her video where she demonstrates how to make the eyeballs. There’s a lot of other stuff in this 7 1/2 minute video, but the action all starts at about 3 min 45 secs.

How will you celebrate this halloween? Do you remember any fun party games from when you were a kid? Do you have any cool food or cocktail ideas for this scary season? Tell us in the comments!

Images by Mrs Romance.