Black Cocktails Guide - Every Way You Can Make Them
How to turn your cocktails black in every way possible - squid ink cocktails, with and without activated charcoal and more.
A few of you cocktail enthusiasts may remember a few years ago when black cocktails skyrocketed in popularity. Still today, these jet black cocktails make a comeback from time to time, usually on Halloween. And for good reason., they’re eye catching and make for very interesting drinking experiences.
But I won’t sugar coat it, black cocktails have had a rocky road with the use of controversial ingredients such as activated charcoal. All things we will talk about during this complete guide to black cocktails.
Popularity of black cocktails
black smoked cocktail with gold leaf garnish - making cocktails from scratch.
I first noticed the popularity of black cocktails around 6 years a go. This was the time when vibrant drinks were at the top of the list, bright blue cocktails, pink drinks and snow white tipples.
The brighter the cocktail, the more appetising it was. Then someone decided to go against the grain and create a jet black cocktail which partly due to the fact every other cocktail was seemingly bright blue, made it quite eye catching.
Popular black drinks
Black drinks have been in existence for a very long time. So this was nothing new. Take the Cuba Libre for example, AKA, the rum and coke.
In-fact, any drink you mix with coke becomes black. And seemingly since coke was invented people have been mixing it with booze. But when you hear black cocktails, you don’t tend to think of the Baby Guinness, Cuba Libre’s or Espresso Martini’s. You think about cocktails that shouldn’t be black but are.
That was when the popularity really started to sky rocket. It went hand in hand with perception. Take a cocktail that shouldn’t be black, make it black, and Voila, magic.
Popular black cocktails in the early days included; Squid ink bloody Mary’s, Black Old Fashioneds, Black Russians and the Black Velvet.
Halloween
As mentioned, the time of year you see more black cocktails then any other, is Halloween. Nothing is spooky about a Margarita. But make it black, and you have the Halloween margarita.
It’s my top tip for anyone asking about Halloween cocktails. You want to make your drink spooky? Stick some black dye in it. You’re done.
Last year I released my high end cocktails from scratch course. A 3 hour long on demand online course teaching you everything I know about making original cocktails from scratch. To the actual home bar essentials, basic techniques, advanced techniques and ice, to cocktail formulas and so much more. I could speak about it all day but to save my breath just check out the official site for the course here.
The reason I bring it up is because for that course, I created 4 mini courses which you can add on as a little extra. Each one is based on Holiday drinks with tips and tricks for each Holiday. The 4 mini courses are Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentines Day and of course… Halloween.
And you just know I made that drink black.
Throughout that lesson I speak in-depth about spooky cocktails and safely achieving a black Halloween drink. So do check that out if you want to learn more.
How to make cocktails black
So how do you make cocktails black? There are 4 main ways of doing this, 4 ways which we are going to take step by step so you completely understand what’s going on and how to do it. Because they all have there pros and cons, so you might want to use different techniques for different cocktails. Starting with…
Squid ink Cocktails
Squid ink or as you will end up purchasing - cuttlefish ink. Is a sure fire way to turn any drink black. It needs no help at all, a little bit of squid ink and voila, jet black drinks.
Some of the ways on this list are only suitable for a certain type of cocktail. For example food coloring is my favourite, but you put that in a milky white drink and it won’t turn black. It’ll turn grey. Food dye is more murky so for food dye to work well, you need to start with a dark base and build of that.
Squid ink doesn’t have that negative. You can add squid ink to milk and it’ll turn jet black.
You’re probably more familiar with squid ink in food, mainly pasta. Ever had black spaghetti or ravioli? That will. usually be squid ink.
So just to recap on the positives;
The pros of squid ink cocktails
Turns any drink jet black
Will work with any cocktail
Adds a salty flavour
The negatives of squid ink cocktails
Before you start purchasing squid ink and mixing black cocktails, let’s cover the negatives. Because there is a big con to squid ink cocktails and it’s actually something I mentioned there in the pros. It adds a salty flavour.
This is brilliant if you’re only using a little bit at a time. Remember your science of flavour (also something I cover in my cocktail course) salt is important for tasty drinks. I won’t go in-depth on this, if you want to learn more, read this article about how salt is the key to amazing cocktails.
To sum up, a tiny bit of salt, not enough to taste, will vastly improve the flavour of a drink. The sweetness will seem sweeter, the sourness will seem more sour. Everything just pops. It’s both science and magic. or in the case of squid ink, black magic.
However, Squid ink isn’t just a little bit salty, it’s ALOT salty. If your cocktail is already pretty dark, and you just want to increase that darkness just a little bit whilst enhancing the flavour. Go in with a few drops of squid ink and it’ll work perfect.
But for the majority of cocktails, you’re going to need a good half to a full teaspoon of squid ink to make the drink black. Which will really make it salty. So if you’re going to use squid ink in your cocktail, you’re going to have to factor in flavour.
Where to purchase Squid ink?
Check the price on amazon.co.uk
Ingredients that make cocktails black
Another great way to turn cocktails black is to use dark ingredients.
Much like squid ink, you have to factor in the flavour for this. So there is some similarities with squid ink but with 2 major differences.
The positive for Squid ink is that squid ink turns cocktails jet black - Dark ingredients turn cocktails dark (not quite jet black)
The positive for dark ingredients is dark ingredients have a much higher range of flavour options - squid ink is just salty.
This is exactly why you want to pick a technique depending on the individual drink.
Examples of black cocktails with dark ingredients
Cuba Libra
Black Russian
Natural ingredients to turn cocktails black
As for what ingredients to pick, I’ve listed a few below.
Blackberries
Elderberries
Black cherries
Blackcurrant
Grapes
Mulberries
Sloe
Other ingredients to turn your cocktails black include;
Coffee
Coffee liqueur
Black vodka
Cassis
Sweet Vermouth
Black Sambuca
Chocolate
Chamboard
Guinness
Coke, Pepsi, Dr pepper
Now of course, some ingredients will work better then others and there are a lot more you will find, they’re just a few examples to get you started. The more you can incorporate in 1 drink, the blacker the cocktail will become.
This is the most natural option on the list so I’d always start with this option. It’s also a great base for pairing with other options on this list. For example, you take some of the above ingredients and incorporate them in your cocktail. Maybe you use a blackberry jam and cassis but it’s not quite as black as you’d hope, you can then use just a small amount of squid ink, not enough to taste, or a small amount of food dye just to help the drink along.
Black food dye in cocktails
Speaking of food dye in cocktails…
This is by far my personal favourite. A lot of people hum and ah about this one. It works very well and unlike squid ink or dark ingredients, food dye has no flavour! Hurray!
Remember in the intro to this guide when I mentioned the most eye-catching thing about black cocktails was to take a drink that shouldn’t be black, and make it black? Well that’s difficult to do when you’re incorporating naturally dark ingredients.
But with food dye, it doesn’t matter. It has no flavour so you can put it in anything.
The issue people have is that it’s not natural. So take from that what you will, but personally, it’s my favourite method.
How to make cocktails black with food dye
The easiest method is to take food dye. You can get black powder which works well or black gel which is my favourite. Just make sure it’s edible. Add a little bit to your cocktail, shake or stir your cocktail, then add a little more if it’s not quite black enough.
Another way that I prefer is to create black ingredients. So take a clear spirit like vodka, gin, tequila or whatever, add a few drops of black food dye in the bottle, shake it and it’ll turn the whole thing black.
You can do the same with sugar syrup to make a black syrup.
Add it to all your clear ingredients that way when you create the cocktail, everything you’re adding will be dark and you’ll have a jet black cocktail.
This is the method I use in my course. Which by the way, it isn’t just the Halloween cocktail. I also show you how to make my black gold cocktail. A jet black smoked cocktail I achieve with the food dye method.
Where to purchase black food dye for drinks
Check the price on amazon.co.uk
Activated charcoal in cocktails
Finally on our list is the most popular and by far, the most controversial method. Activated Charcoal.
Activated charcoal really helped kickstart this trend of black drinks. It turns your cocktail jet black much like squid ink, but it’s completely flavourless just like food dye. But it’s also from natural ingredients like coconuts. So it really is every positive from all the above methods with non of the negatives.
Why activated charcoal became popular in bars
The reason it became so popular in bars is because of what I just mentioned, it has no flavour and it instantly turns a drink pitch black. However, it also came boasting health benefits which people loved.
There’s no denying alcohol isn’t the healthiest thing. Well activated charcoal combatted that. Activated charcoal has an amazing quality to detox and absorb all the bad toxins from drinking alcohol.
Which meant, you still got drunk, you still had a great night out, but whilst you was asleep, the activated charcoal was getting to work and you woke up hangover free. Imagine; Pitch black drinks, no flavour, natural, AND, no hangover.
Which is why about 5 years ago, activated charcoal was in just about every bar imaginable and people were raving about the beauty of it.
Where it all went wrong
However, just about as quick as it gained mass popularity, it quickly dropped off. This is around the time people were also using activated charcoal in toothpaste, due to the similar effect - black toothpaste was cool and it absorbed toxins from your mouth.
But people started realizing that the health benefits of activated charcoal, also acted as a negative if you didn’t understand them. The biggest being quantity. And when we’re talking bars, people weren’t having small amounts of the black stuff. They were ordering cocktail after cocktail. Digesting mass amounts of activated charcoal which we found out to be a big no no.
Why activated charcoal is bad in drinks
So let’s get to the controversy.
Activated charcoal doesn’t just absorb the toxins from alcohol, it absorbs everything. Nutrients and medicine included. So let’s say you’re on some specific medicine such as birth control, then you go on a night out and smash back 5 activated charcoal cocktails. What that charcoal does is absorb the birth control and hey presto, your pregnant. Enjoy.
It’s basically a magnet that sucks up everything in your body good or bad.
God knows how many women at the height of its popularity became pregnant even though they were on birth control.
The same goes for any medicine you may be on.
So… Can you use activated charcoal in cocktails?
Yes, you can safely use activated charcoal in cocktails if you agree with these 4 statements;
You are making this cocktail for yourself
You’re not on any medication
You understand the side effects
You’re only using a little
Where to purchase activated charcoal for drinks
I recommend using coconut food grade activated charcoal;
Check the price on amazon.co.uk
Top 7 Black cocktail recipes
Now we understand black cocktails. Let’s get into some of my favourite and most versatile black cocktail recipes that you can use for inspiration or make at home. All of which are without activated charcoal.
#1 Dracuiri
This Halloween classic pairs rum, lime juice and ginger syrup for a spooky vampire inspired twist on the classic Daiquiri. Making it the Dracula daiquiri, or Dracuiri.
#2 Shipwreck Sour
This is a squid ink cocktail made with;
2 shots dark rum
1 shot sugar syrup
1 shot lime juice
half a teaspoon squid ink
a spray of edible gold.
Top with the foam from this recipe.
Shake everything well and strain into your gold sprayed Nick and Nora glass.
#3 Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus
A pre batched and carbonated cocktail which uses a blackberry infused whisky topped with a citrus foam air.
#4 Black Gold
A black food dye cocktail which is completely smoked with edible gold leaf.
#5 Halloween Margarita
A spooky twist on the classic Margarita for Halloween.
#6 Hazelnut Espresso Martini
A hazelnut and caramel infused twist on the classic Espresso Martini.
#7 Put a Dime in the Jukebox
A salted caramel schnapps rum based twist on the Espresso Martini with a funky Daim bar garnish.
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Hi, I’m Cameron, guv’nor of Smartblend. If you liked this then you’re in luck, I have a bunch more recipes like it. I share only vegetarian and pescatarian food recipes, cocktails, and drink guides with a sprinkling of wellness and mindful drinking. If that sounds like you, then stick around!
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