Black Vodka

Up the spook level of your Halloween cocktails with homemade Black Vodka. Made with food coloring, you can use it to make eery black cocktails. It’s perfect for Halloween parties.

Homemade Black Vodka recipe

Like Halloween costumes, Halloween cocktails range from cute to creepy.

Cute could be a few shots of candy corn vodka or a tootsie roll cocktail.

Creepy might mean a martini glass ^* full of vodka gummy worms or a smoking dry ice cocktail.

But if you want something even spookier, making a black vodka cocktail is a great way to trick and treat your guests.

This black magic champagne cocktail is a classy yet sinister libation, but I listed even more spooky Halloween cocktails at the end of this post.

Why you’ll love this recipe

Black vodka is the key to making a delicious cocktail with a dark twist. Here are a few reasons you’ll love making your own:

• Black vodka is easy to make with your favorite vodka and food coloring.
• Unlike other methods, this black vodka doesn’t take long to make and doesn’t involve charcoal, so it is safe to consume.
• This black spirit ups the spook factor for all kinds of cocktails. It makes a great gag to mix into cocktails for Halloween parties or enjoy on Halloween night.

Headed to a Halloween party this year? Bottle it up and give it as a hostess gift.

What is black vodka?

Did you know that such a thing as black vodka exists? It stunned me too!

Black vodka is simply a food-colored vodka. It tastes just like vodka!

It’s a great way to spruce up classic cocktails for Halloween, like the French 75 or a vodka tonic.

You can make black vodka at home or you can buy it. Blavod Vodka is a brand of black vodka that may be available at your local liquor store, but making it at home is super easy.

Plus, you can make the exact amount that you need, and then you’re not committed to a whole bottle of black vodka.

Methods for making black vodka

There are a few ways to make black vodka.

1. The easiest method adds few drops of food coloring, which is inexpensive. This method is incredibly easy to pull off and only takes a few minutes.
2. Another method involves infusing vodka with black rice, which would be more natural. Food coloring is definitely less time-consuming.
3. Adding activated charcoal powder is another method, but there is some medical risk to using charcoal in cocktails that I didn’t want to take. Food coloring is a much safer option.

Ingredients

You only need two main ingredients to make black vodka. Here’s what to pick up at the grocery store to make this easy recipe:

Vodka

Vodka is the perfect blank slate because it is clear and uncolored. Feel free to use a flavored vodka such as chili vodka or pineapple vodka.

As I always say, use the best you can afford — my go-to advice for anything with drink mixing. In my Vodka 101 crash course, I’ll tell you how to pick out a bottle of vodka. My go-to brands right now are Tito’s, Deep Eddy and Absolut.

Another good idea is to use the Crystal Head vodka, which comes in a skull-shaped bottle. Wouldn’t that be so spooky?!

Feel free to use tequila, gin or rum if your cocktail calls for it. The food coloring can easily transform a darker spirit like bourbon or spiced rum, too.

Food coloring

The best food coloring to use for this vodka is easy to find at most grocery stores.

The one you are looking for is McCormick Food Color in “assorted colors.” Don’t get the neon colors. (Bonus: You can use it to color cookies, frosting and egg dyes.)

You will need to use the following colors:

• red food coloring
• green food coloring
• blue food coloring

These are sufficient for making a black pigment for the vodka. You don’t need to use any of the other colors in the box, like yellow food coloring.

You won’t need very much at all. About 2-3 drops each of each color per cup of vodka will result in a rich black color.

If you can find it, feel free to use black food dye, but I think it’s great you can use the most common brand of food coloring to make it without having to buy anything special.

How to make Black Vodka

Making homemade black vodka is super easy.

First, fill a container like a mixing glass or measuring cup with regular vodka. (See below for variations and flavor ideas.)

Then add 3 drops of red food coloring.

Next, add 3 drops of green food coloring.

Finally, add 3 drops of blue food coloring.

These three colors are dark and saturated, and when they come together they turn the vodka black as the night.

Then give it a shake or stir to turn it totally black. Add more food coloring if necessary to reach your desired color.

Store it in an airtight, food-safe container such as a bottle or jar. It is shelf-stable so keep it around as long as you like.

Substitutions & variations

You can use this same method to make black gin or black rum if you like! Even black tequila will work!

A flavored spirit like coconut rum, marshmallow vodka or spicy tequila will work too.

For spirits that have a dark color, like bourbon, you may need to add extra drops of blue or green if it has a yellow or brown tinge to it.

You can even make it work with zero-proof spirit for anyone who’d like a mocktail instead.

Important note: If anyone at your party has a red dye allergy, they should skip the black vodka.

Black cocktail recipes

Now that you have black vodka, what will you make with it? Here are a few black drink ideas:

• The Black Magic cocktail is made with vodka, lemon juice and champagne for a sparkly black drink, like a French 75.
• Make an even darker Black Russian with black vodka and coffee liqueur.
• Love vodka sodas or vodka tonics? Make them black! Use your homemade black vodka and top it with club soda or tonic waster. Or you could make a screwed-up screwdriver with orange juice and vodka.
• If you’re a martini fan, use it to make a vodka martini. (You could also add the food coloring to gin, if you prefer the classic martini!) I’m not sure what the color would do to the olives, but that’s kind of fun for Halloween, right?
• An easy Halloween cocktail would be black Moscow mules made with black vodka, lime juice and ginger beer.
• The witches martini is a fruity cocktail that’s essentially a black martini recipe containing Chambord. For a crowd, this black vodka punch would be the perfect cocktail.

If you’re trying other black spirits, use black tequila to make black margaritas or black bourbon to make an old-fashioned. I’d love to hear what spooky black cocktails you come up with! Leave a comment below.

More Halloween cocktails

Here are some more delicious Halloween cocktails to try this year:

• Boozy Butterbeer
• Color-Changing Potion Cocktails
• Glow-in-the-Dark Jello Shots
• Pumpkin Spice Mule