Guests seeking a dark and delicious Halloween drink experience can venture into one of Black Lagoon Halloween bars now popping up all over. The acclaimed “adult Halloween celebration of your nightmares” returns this October with the immersive pop-up across 19 cities worldwide.

Black Lagoon, started in 2019 by bar industry veterans Kelsey Ramage and Erin Hayes, blends frightful fun and sinister Halloween ambiance. The holiday pop-ups aim to captivate guests with a haunted atmosphere and eerie libations.

The pop-up concept helps cocktail bars present a dark celebration for those who revel in the mysterious and bizarre, where guests can transport themselves to a world that blurs that line between reality and the supernatural. The 2023 Black Lagoon locations include:

King Bee (Austin, TX)
Backstage Lounge (Charlotte, NC)
Hospitality 201 at Homestead on The Roof (Chicago)
Nickel City (Fort Worth, TX)
Matilde Mi Amor (Guadalajara, Mexico)
Two Headed Dog (Houston, TX)
Homeboy (London, U.K.)
Lost Property (Los Angeles)
Meteor (Minneapolis)
132 Bar Vintage (Montreal)
Pretty Ricky’s (New York)
Anna’s (New Orleans)
Sister Midnight (Paris, France)
Dirty Pretty (Portland, OR)
Kona’s Street Market (San Francisco)
Rob Roy (Seattle)
Bar Mordecai (Toronto)
Butcher & Bullock (Vancouver, Canada)
Trouble Bird (Washington D.C.)

Black Lagoon pop-ups include meticulously crafted sets, immersive storytelling and a lineup of signature Halloween-inspired cocktails such as the Death Rattle, Hellfire Fizz, Night Crawler and Satanic Panic. Each pop-up bar will feature entertainment, live performances and surprises that the founders promise will keep guests on the edge of their seats.

Here are a few cocktail recipes from the Black Lagoon participants and other bars offering scary good Halloween drinks.

Print Pin

La Bruja (The Witch)

Course Drinks

Keyword creme de cassis, lemongrass, lime, mango, Strega liqueur, tequila

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ oz. Mijenta Tequila Blanco
• 1 oz. Fresh lime
• ¾ oz. Mango purée
• ½ oz. Lemongrass/cinnamon syrup
• ½ oz. Strega liqueur
• ¼ oz. Lejay creme de Cassis float

Instructions

• Add ingredients in a shaker.
• Strain the mix from one tin to another via a long pour.
• Serve into a tall glass with crushed ice.
• Garnish with cinnamon and rosemary to create witch’s broom

Notes

Jose Alejandro Ibañez, principal Bartender at Employees Only in New York, created this recipe.

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Headless Horseman

Course Drinks

Keyword apple juice, cinnamon, ginger beer, lemon, Scotch, vanilla

Ingredients

• 12 oz. Vanilla bean-infused Monkey Shoulder Scotch whiskey
• 12 oz. Fresh honeycrisp apple juice
• 3 oz. Fresh lemon juice
• 3 oz. Cinnamon syrup 1:1 sugar to water
• 1 ½ oz. 2:1 Simple syrup 2:1 sugar to water
• 10 oz. Q Ginger beer
• 10 Dash Angostura bitters

Instructions

• Large-format cocktail: Combine all ingredients, shake well over crushed ice.
• Pour unstrained into a pumpkin shaped punch bowl.
• Garnish with 3 orchids, assorted shells and gourds, 2 pine leaves.

Notes

Kevin Beary, beverage director at Three Dots and a Dash and The Bamboo Room created this recipe.

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Grubby Bloody Hands

Course Drinks

Keyword egg white, lemon, raspberry syrup, rum

Ingredients

• ¾ oz. The Pathfinder Hemp and Root nonalcoholic spirit
• ¾ oz. Appleton signature rum
• 2 oz. Black strap rum
• ¾ oz. Raspberry squid ink syrup
• ½ oz. Lemon
• 1 Egg white

Instructions

• Combine ingredients and double shake.
• Double strain into pousse café glass.
• Garnish with Angostura bitters art.

Notes

Kraig Rovensky created this recipe for Life On Mars in Seattle.

Print Pin

Blood Rave

Course Drinks

Keyword absinthe, beet juice, chile liqueur, falernum, lime, mezcal

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Montelobos mezcal
• ½ oz. Giffard Pimente chile liqueur
• ¼ oz. Fresh beet juice
• ¾ oz. Fresh lime juice
• ¾ oz. Miso Falernum
• 1 dash Absinthe

Instructions

• Add all ingredients with ice and shake well.
• Strain drink into Mai Tai or double Old Fashioned glass filled with crushed ice.
• Garnish with a dehydrated lime.

Notes

Mixologists Erin Hayes and Kelsey Ramage created this recipe for Black Lagoon.

Print Pin

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Course Drinks

Keyword activated charcoal, black currant juice, elderflower liqueur, lemon, vodka

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Vodka
• ½ oz. Elderflower liqueur
• 1 oz. Blackcurrant syrup
• ¾ oz. Lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Activated charcoal

Instructions

• Combine ingredients and shake.
• Strain over pebble ice.
• Garnish with sliced red ti leaf.

Notes

Audrey Angui, bar manager at Paradisaea in Bird Rock, San Diego, created this recipe.