October 21, 2022

Witch’s Brew Cocktail

It’s Halloween season and I’ve been making lots of spooky desserts. I dreamt up this Witch’s Brew Cocktail because I wanted a fun drink that would be the perfect addition to the Halloween season.

This Witch’s Brew Cocktail combines blueberry lemonade, vodka, a hint of your favorite lemon-lime soda, and a squeeze of lime for a delicious sweet, yet slightly tart drink. The blueberry lemonade gives the drink a beautiful pink color and adding a small piece of dry ice will leave it smoking like a real witch’s brew! It’s a great way to impress your dinner guests and add a fun twist to your night!

A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE GET STARTED.

This recipe makes one cocktail, but can easily be doubled or tripled to make more than one. I’ve also listed it out in parts below if you’d rather make a whole pitchers worth for a larger crowd.

If you don’t like or can’t find blueberry lemonade, you can use any other kind of lemonade. I chose blueberry because of the fun flavor and beautiful color.

Ratio for Larger Batch:

4 parts blueberry lemonade + 1.5-2 parts vodka + 1 part lemon-lime soda + squeeze of lime

Adding dry ice to your cocktails will give them the cool smoking effect and make them look like they were just served from a witch’s brew. Make sure to read all of the directions below about handling dry ice before you get started.

Dry Ice

IMPORTANT: DO NOT touch dry ice! It is so cold that it will burn you.
Dry ice can be found at most grocery stores. I recommend calling ahead to make sure they have it. If you can’t find it at your local Ralphs/Kroger’s, Von’s/Pavilions, or Walmart, I’ve had luck finding it at Smart and Final. You’ll most likely need to go to the cashier for them to pull it from the backroom. One pound is more than enough.
Dry ice doesn’t keep long, so I recommend buying it no more than an hour or two before you need it. I kept my bag of dry ice wrapped in some paper bags and placed in a cooler before I was ready to use it.

Handling Dry Ice:

- Once you’re ready to add dry ice to your cocktails, you’ll need to break up the ice. I recommend placing the bag of dry ice on the counter, wearing something to protect your eyes and some oven mitts or gloves, and using a mallet or hammer to break up the ice while it is still contained in the bag.
- You’ll only need several small pieces, one for each cocktail. You can place these pieces in a bowl with tongs. The pieces of dry ice are so cold that they will be noisy and move around as they are added to the bowl so be careful not to let any of it touch you..
- Once the dry ice is broken up, use kitchen tongs to carefully transfer it to the glass. Once it hits the liquid it will start bubbling and smoking.
- DO NOT drink the dry ice. Let it sit in your glass for about 5 minutes until it dissolves. Then your cocktail is safe to drink. Make sure you tell this to anyone you serve the cocktail to.

Now that you know all about how to handle dry ice, let’s talk about making the cocktail. This cocktail is super easy to make and comes together quickly. You’ll add ice to your cocktail shaker followed by the blueberry lemonade, vodka, lemon-lime soda, and squeeze of lime. Shake well and strain into your glass.

Garnish it with a blackberry on a toothpick. Now use your tongs to gently drop a small piece of dry ice into each glass.

Let that dry ice do its thing and turn your drink into a bubbling witch’s brew!