These pitch black cocktails are perfect for whenever you need a unique, deliciously dark drink! From witchy martinis to tropical drinks that are as dark as your soul, there’s a jet black cocktail for all of your spooky season needs.
I personally don’t need a specific time of year to whip up a black-colored cocktail because I celebrate spooky season all year long, but they’re definitely made with Halloween in mind.
Whether you celebrate spooky season everyday or only closer to Halloween though, I guarantee these cocktails will impress your friends and be the centerpiece of any event!
How To Make Black Cocktails
There are three main ways to make a cocktail black in color, and they’re all super different! Read on to find the three most popular ways to make a cocktail black.
1. Black Food Gel or Coloring
One super easy way to make black-colored cocktails is to use black food gel or coloring.
Since food gel and coloring are flavorless when used in small quantities, they’re an easy way to turn your cocktail black without changing the taste.
Most add black gel or coloring to vodka or a clear spirit, but you can also add it directly to the drink to turn it black.
The one main drawback of this method is it can stain your mouth. That said, some might be okay with this since it’s more convenient and cheaper than the other two methods.
Black Food Gel
Food gel is generally used to make icing, but adding a little bit into a cocktail or spirit will make it pitch black. The caveat is that if you add too much, it can pool at the bottom or impart an “off” taste. So be careful with your ratio!
If you’re adding the food gel directly to a drink, you need less than a drop. If you’re adding it to a full bottle of vodka or other clear spirit, you’ll need 4 to 5 drops. Stir or shake very well after adding it.
A good and inexpensive brand for black food gel is Anne Clark, which is vegan and kosher.
Black Food Coloring
Black food coloring mixes into drinks more easily than gel, but the color might not be as dark as it would be if you were to use food gel.
If you don’t have black food coloring on hand, a drop each of red, blue, and green food coloring will turn your drink black as well.
For cocktails, start with 2 drops and add more as needed until you reach the desired shade of black. For a full bottle of vodka or other clear spirit, you’ll need about 12 drops. If using red, blue, and green, add 10 drops of each.
McCormick is the most popular brand for black food coloring, and you can find it at any grocery store or online.
2. Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal is a powder made from carbon sources, like wood or coconut shells. It’s sold in capsules, virtually flavorless, and easy to find in health food stores or online.
It’s historically been used to treat a wide range of ailments and health conditions, including overdoses, high cholesterol, and even hangovers.
Most recipes using activated charcoal call for half a capsule shaken with the rest of the ingredients.
The main pro of activated charcoal is it will turn almost ANY cocktail jet black regardless of the original color.
Full disclosure: though it’s associated with many health benefits, there are some health concerns when it comes to using activated charcoal. Read more about the potential risks here.
3. Black Colored Spirits
The following are the liquors and liqueurs that are closest to black.
- Blavod Black Vodka: made with black catechu, the bark of the acacia tree
- Kraken Rum: black caribbean spiced rum
- Jägermeister: a German digestif made with herbs and botanicals
- Fernet Branca: an Italian amaro made with herbs and spices
- Scapegrace Gin: made with butterfly pea flower
- Opal Nera Sambuca: made with skins of elderberries
- Romana Black Sambuca: made with witch elder bush and licorice
- Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur: made with cold brew coffee and vodka
- Casa Mariol Vermut Negre: vermouth made with Macabeo wine
The first four are the only bottles I would say are easy to find, and Blavod is the only one that’s truly 100% black.
The others are very dark shades of brown, blue, or purple and will make your drink darker in color, but Blavod is the only one that will make a drink pitch black. That’s likely why it’s the most popular black liquor and what you’ll see in 99% of black-colored cocktail recipes!
So without further ado, let’s check out these wickedly delicious pitch black cocktails!
More Spooky Season Drink Recipes
- 13 Scarily Easy 3-Ingredient Halloween Cocktails
- 10 Hocus Pocus Themed Drinks
- 20 Spooky Non-Alcoholic Halloween Punch Recipes
15 Pitch Black Cocktails For Spooky Season
Black Margarita
If you want to trick AND treat your friends, look no further than this black margarita! It uses a capsule of activated charcoal to give it its hue, along with your typical margarita ingredients.
So it tastes exactly like a classic marg, but looks like it came out of a witch's cauldron.
Black Vodka Witches' Martini with Chambord
Though purists would not consider this a martini, it's still delicious and beautiful to look at!
Ingredients are black vodka, Cointreau orange liqueur, Chambord black raspberry liqueur, cranberry pomegranate juice, and lemon. You can dye your own vodka by adding 2-4 drops of black food dye to the shaker, or use Blavod. Spooky season perfection!
Black Raven Cocktail with Rum & Jagermeister
This cocktail is basically a rum and coke on steroids. It starts off with a base of spiced rum, Jagermeister, and coca cola. Then you add in black food coloring to make it completely pitch black.
It's spook-tacular in all the best ways and sounds totally tasty!
Black Fig Vodka Martini
Figs are such a fun ingredient, and they look incredible as a garnish on a pitch black cocktail!
This clever recipe also sounds delicious. It's made it with black vodka, fig vodka, creme de cassis blackcurrant liqueur, and dry vermouth.
While it's great for Halloween, the flavors and presentation would be appropriate any time you wanted to make an impressive, unique drink for friends.
Pitch Black Manhattan Recipe
Manhattan's are made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. This cocktail follows the classic Manhattan recipe to a T, but adds in activated charcoal to turn it pitch black.
It's ideal for those times when if you want to feel classy and spooky all at once!
Black Galaxy Shimmering Cocktail
This cocktail tastes like a lime daiquiri, but looks like a shimmering black hole in space! And the best news is you only need a few ingredients to make it, including black vodka, lime juice, simple syrup, and edible white pearl dust.
Perfect for fall, star gazing, or any space/astrology themed party!
The Black Widow Cocktail
I wouldn't mind getting trapped in a spider's web if they were serving up this tasty cocktail! The ingredients are vodka, creme de cassis, Kahlua, ginger beer, and activated charcoal.
The combination of the creme de cassis blackcurrant liqueur, Kahlua coffee liqueur, and ginger beer is so interesting and would make for a complex, incredibly delicious drink.
Black Cat Cocktail
If you want a elegant but decadent cocktail, the Black Cat cocktail is absolutely purrrrr-fect! You start by making black simple syrup with water, sugar, and activated charcoal. Then, you mix the simple syrup with Kraken rum, creme de cacao, and chocolate stout beer.
So while it tastes like chocolate, it's not overly sweet and has a nice dryness from the stout.
Black Magic Cocktail
This recipe is essentially a French 75, but made with black vodka instead of gin. They use red, green, and blue food coloring to dye the vodka black, and otherwise you just need simple syrup, lemon juice, and sparkling wine.
Tastes and looks like magic in a glass!
Full Moontini
This drink looks sinister, but tastes like a tropical vacation! To make it, you need gin, activated charcoal, pineapple juice, lime juice, and club soda.
The most fun part of the drink though is the "full moon" ice cube, which you can make easily with a sphere-shaped ice mold.
Sure to have you howling at the moon in just a few sips!
Dead Man's Kiss Cocktail
While most black-colored cocktails use pre-made black spirits, charcoal, or food coloring, this inventive recipe shows you how to make your own homemade black vodka with black rice.
Black rice is tasteless and will turn the vodka pitch black when it's infused for 24+ hours.
This recipe adds black rice to marshmallow vodka, and the other ingredients are coffee liqueur and Frangelico hazelnut liqueur. Who knew a dead man's kiss could taste so sweet?!
Twenty Four Karat Black Martini
This cocktail is obviously great for Halloween, but the gold dust makes it just as fun for New Years' Eve!
Ingredients are black vodka, tart cherry juice, cranberry-black cherry juice, black food coloring, and gold cake dust.
Tart, fruity, and totally eerie-sistible!
The Blackbeard
There are a lot of pirate-themed cocktails out there, but this one likely best captures the rough life on the open seas thanks to its appearance and ingredients.
Here's what you need: spiced rum, Fernet Branca, creme de cacao, chocolate stout, and -- wait for it -- squid ink!
Now hear me out: squid/cuttlefish ink is a trendy ingredient to use in cocktails right now, and it actually doesn't taste fishy. Instead, it's just a little salty like the ocean, so this cocktail would taste like a boozy sea salt chocolate bar!
You can buy squid/cuttlefish ink at your local asian grocery store or online.
Black Heart Daiquiri
Most people associate daiquiris with the summertime, but this recipe is undoubtedly meant for spooky season!
To make it, you need grape juice, añejo (aged) rum, white rum, simple syrup, lime juice, activated charcoal, and blackberries for garnish. So it's a classic daiquiri recipe with the addition of grape juice and a fab-boo-lous jet black color!
Black Russian Cocktail
I'm sure you've heard of a White Russian, which is a cocktail made with vodka, coffee liqueur, and cream, but have you ever had a Black Russian?!
This popular 2-ingredient cocktail is just a White Russian without the cream (i.e. vodka and coffee liqueur). So it's wonderful any time of year that your need a pick-me-up, but especially during the spooky season.
And while this specific recipe is more of an honorable mention since it's light black/dark brown in color, you can still make it pitch black by using black vodka or a few drops of black food coloring!
And that’s a wrap! Which of these jet black cocktails has you excited for spooky season? Though I like to tap into my witchy side all year long, these definitely hit different in the fall and I need the black margarita STAT!
If you have a favorite black-colored cocktail or method of making black cocktails I need to know about, please post in the comment section below 🙂
Stay spooky, friends!