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Cocktail History
The Haunted Pumpkin Patch Margarita is a Halloween cocktail that was created in 2022 by Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest. Somewhat of a cross between a Moscow Mule and a Margarita, the recipe mixes apple cider, tequila, and citrus liqueur with a delicious and thick pumpkin butter and tops it all off with spicy ginger beer.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Apple Cider: This is a beverage made with freshly pressed apple juice and baking spices. We used The Glass Orchard Apple Cider because it’s fresh, delicious, and made locally to us.
Tequila Blanco: This is a spirit made with unaged agave and water. We used Casamigos Tequila Blanco because it has a sweet agave flavor with notes of grapefruit and vanilla. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Agave Blanco Spirit in place of the tequila.
Triple Sec: This is a liqueur made with bitter oranges, lemons, sugar, and alcohol. We used Cointreau because it’s one of the highest quality orange liqueurs on the market. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Lyre’s Orange Sec Non-Alcoholic Spirit in place of the orange liqueur.
Spiced Pumpkin Butter: This is a butter made with pumpkin purée, apple cider, maple syrup, vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt. We made ours at home using this recipe.
Ginger Beer: This is a carbonated beverage made with ginger spice, yeast, and sugar. We used Q Mixers Ginger Beer because it has a delicious ginger flavor that is sweetened with agave syrup.
Simple Syrup: This is a sweetener made with white sugar and water. We made ours at home using Alex’s stovetop recipe.
Sugar: This is a sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrate. We used C&H Pure Cane Granulated Sugar.
Ground Cinnamon: This is a spice. We used Simply Organic Ground Cinnamon.
Cayenne Pepper: This is a ground type of moderately hot pepper. We used Simple Organic Cayenne Pepper.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Boston Shaker: This is used to shake ingredients. We used the Boston shaker from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Hawthorne Strainer: This is used to strain out ice and solid ingredients after the cocktail is shaken. We used the A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer.
Paring Knife: This is used to cut ingredients. We used the OXO Good Grips 3.5 Inch Paring Knife.
Juicer: This is used to juice citrus. We used the ALEEHAI Manual Fruit Juicer.
Tasting Notes
The Haunted Pumpkin Patch Margarita has strong pumpkin aromas accented with slight agave and baking spices and starts with a thick, milkshake-like texture that combines slightly sweetened pumpkin with sharp tequila before continuing with a much softer apple-touched finish.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: We both appreciated this drink for its interesting combination of flavors, but Kendall ultimately enjoyed this mixture much more than Alex did. Even if you don’t try it in this cocktail, make sure to give the pumpkin butter recipe a try on your next breakfast, dessert, or snack. It’s the best part of the Haunted Pumpkin Patch Margarita.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐
“Okay, so this recipe isn’t really close to being a Margarita at all, but we stuck with it to find out how it tasted. This combined with apple cider and 2/3 of what makes a margarita. The resulting cocktail is definitely not bad, but it isn’t quite for me – I find the sharpness of the tequila to clash a bit with the other fall flavors without any citrus to balance it back out, and the thicker texture of the drink wasn’t exactly what I love in a cocktail. That said, the general flavors were pretty tasty, and the combination of apple with the pumpkin butter was a great call, I just might recommend using a different combination of spirits and/or liqueurs for the rest. Also maybe some lemon juice for balance.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Aside from an ice cream drink, this might be the thickest cocktail I’ve ever tried. The pumpkin butter adds loads of interesting texture, and it packs in about as much pumpkin flavor as you could in a cocktail. I think I prefer our pumpkin spice syrup over a thick butter for a drink like this one, but the pumpkin butter was so good that I’d 100% make a batch to use in other ways. Give this one a try with either the butter or our syrup regardless because it’s quite tasty.”
Recipe
This cocktail recipe was adapted from Half Baked Harvest, an online food and beverage recipe publication.
Mix sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in a bowl.
Pour mixture onto a plate, dip outer rim of a lowball glass in simple syrup, and roll glass in sugar mixture until coated.
Add apple cider, tequila, triple sec, spiced pumpkin butter, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into sugar-rimmed lowball glass over fresh cracked ice.
(Optional) Top with ginger beer.
Ingredients
Directions
Mix sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in a bowl.
Pour mixture onto a plate, dip outer rim of a lowball glass in simple syrup, and roll glass in sugar mixture until coated.
Add apple cider, tequila, triple sec, spiced pumpkin butter, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into sugar-rimmed lowball glass over fresh cracked ice.
(Optional) Top with ginger beer.
Make It a Mocktail: Use Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Agave Blanco Spirit in place of the tequila and Lyre’s Orange Sec Non-Alcoholic Spirit in place of the orange liqueur to try a booze-free version of this drink.
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More Halloween Cocktails
If you like this Halloween-inspired cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
Vampire’s Kiss: A lemon vodka cocktail made with raspberry liqueur, cranberry liqueur, lemon juice, grenadine, cherry, clove, and cinnamon bitters, and red food coloring
Poison Apple: A rye whiskey cocktail made with cinnamon syrup, cranberry juice, apple cider, lemon juice, and apple slices
Empress Corpse Reviver No. 2: A gin cocktail made with triple sec, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice, absinthe, and an orange twist
Witch’s Brew Lemonade: A gin cocktail made with lemonade, blue curaçao, lemon juice, and a rosemary sprig
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