Every good Halloween story starts with “a dark & stormy night,” and every good Halloween party starts with a drink. I, Colleen, am combining the two for some epic holiday hosting with a scary good secret: the Dark & Stormy Cocktail recipe!

Can we all just agree that Halloween, when done right, is the most fun of all holidays? Not saying it’s necessarily the all-around-best (I hear you Christmas lovers), but come on, people! Any holiday that requires costumes begs to be taken with a healthy dose of good cheer. Nothing says Halloween like a party (and I totally count scary movies with my dog as a party), and nothing says party like holiday-themed drinks.

To keep things easy, I’m sharing my party version of the uber-popular Dark and Stormy. Muddled blackberries (easy peasy in the blender) give it a darker, spookier look for the holiday, and fresh sage gives it an autumnal twist.

Dark & Stormy Cocktail Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 cup Dark rum
• 24 Blackberries (about one small container)
• 8 Sage leaves
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 Ginger beer

Instructions

• Combine all but the ginger beer in a blender. Blend just until well combined, about 4-6 seconds.
• Strain through a fine mesh sieve and divide evenly between 4 glasses filled with ice. Top with the ginger beer. 
• Garnish with edible flowers (I went a little Day of the Dead with mine) citrus peel and straw.

• Print Recipe

This one is super easy to scale up or scale down according to your number of guests. I go with two ounces of rum, two sage leaves, 1/4 of a lime and six blackberries per drink. One standard bottle of ginger beer will also go a long way, since you only need 3-4 ounces for each drink (to taste). That means you’ll get 3-4 drinks out of a standard 12 ounce bottle. PARTY TIP: Make the base ahead and leave it in the glasses sans ice. When your guests arrive, throw in the ice and ginger beer to order. So simple!

Halloween aside, these are awesome to serve at any fall party (just drop the scary name and styling)! I love a drink that can be easily made in batches for guests, so I can focus on fun garnishes rather than a ton of squeezing or shaking. If you’re looking for a simple, spooky, seasonal drink this year, this Dark & Stormy cocktail recipe is definitely for you!

Anyone else out there down for a good Halloween party? I seriously love the dressing up, the kitsch, and all things spooky. But even if it’s just a horror movie marathon with friends or a sweatpants-and-candy-dealing kinda night, we always try to get in the spirit (get it?) with a special cocktail around here!