3 perfect Halloween cocktails — and how to make them! — according to a golf-club chef

Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetites.

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Happy Halloween!

I love this time of year for so many reasons. The crispness in the air. The kaleidoscopic foliage around golf courses.The costume parties.

And of course, the cocktails.

As the temperatures drop, I tend to lean towards darker spirits and red wine. Here are three of my favorite seasonal cocktails, using those comforting ingredients as a base.

Mulled Wine Punch

Inspired by the German mulled wine known as Glühwein, this Christmas classic is appropriate as soon as the first oak leaf hits the ground. The spice add a nice touch while the brandy delivers a welcome punch. 

Ingredients:

1 bottle red wine, preferably full-bodied, such as Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon
4 ounces brandy
3 sticks cinnamon 
1 teaspoon coriander seed
5 cloves
1 pod of black cardamom
1 knob ginger, about an inch-long
Zest of 1 orange.
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pink peppercorns

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pot except for brandy. Warm up slowly, never letting the liquid come to a simmer. With a candy thermometer, keep the temperature below 170 degrees for 20 minutes.  Strain through a cheese cloth and add brandy.

Serve warm, and garnish with cinnamon stick.

For an added touch, light the cinnamon stick on fire and blow out prior to serving. 

Spiked Cider

Ingredients:

8 ounces bourbon
16 ounces cider
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
1 tablespoon allspice berries
2 ounces Demerara simple syrup
8 ounces milk heated to a froth
Fresh grated nutmeg and cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pot except for bourbon. Warm up slowly, never simmering. With a candy thermometer, keep below 170 degrees for 20 minutes. Strain through a cheese cloth and add Bourbon. Serve warm. 

Topped with frothed milk foam or whipped cream. Garnish with grated nutmeg and cinnamon. 

Smoke & Mirrors

Sounds like the signature beverage for a haunted house, but don’t be scared by the name, or the use of activated charcoal, which is not a difficult ingredient to find or use.

Ingredients:

2 ounces Mezcal 
1/4-ounce milk punch
¾-ounce lemon juice, 
½-ounce agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon activated charcoal

Combine all ingredients and shake well with ice. Strain into a rocks glass fitted with a large format ice cube.

Rim salt

2 tablespoon black lava sea salt 
1 tablespoon ground sage

Spread agave on the rim of your rocks glass and roll in seasoned salt mix. Feel free to omit the charcoal powder, although it lends a unique aesthetic and may even whiten your teeth! 

Cheers.