With Haloween just around the corner, it’s time to get all your spooky preparations going.
In addition to the morbid decorations and endless candy, having the right foods and drinks helps complete the Halloween feel.
For the drinks, I highly recommend this Sanderson Sister Black Sangria. It’s the perfect witches brew to accompany a late night viewing of Hocus Pocus, the movie from which the drink draws inspiration.
While most Sangrias are all colourful and tropical, black sangria is black as night. To complete the effect, it’s topped with black fruits such as grapes and blueberries.
What You’ll Need
- A bottle of dry red wine
- 1 cup brandy (or less depending on how alcoholic you want your Sangria to be)
- A mixture of dark fruits – black grapes, blackberries and blueberries (1/2 cup to 1 cup of each – you can use good kitchen scales to measure it correctly)
- ¼ cup Crème de Cassis to darken the drink (alternatively use 2 cups Pomegranate juice)
Choosing the Right Wine
A lot of sangria recipes call for white wine. It gives the drink a nice light look and fruity taste.
But we are going for dark and heavy here so red wine it is. The drier the wine, the better. You don’t want the sangria to get too sweet – that’s what the fruits are there for.
Some good choices include Cabernet Sauvignon, Basilicata Starsa and Radius Merlot.
Darkening Your Sangria
The red wine on its own is not enough to produce that inky black colour we are going for. It will have more of a red to dark red appearance.
To make it darker, add either ¼ cup Crème de Cassis or 2 cups Pomegranate juice.
Crème de Cassis or black liquor is a sweet dark red drink made from blackcurrants.
The pomegranate juice works just as well if you cannot get Crème de Cassis or don’t want to add more alcohol to the beverage.
Preparation and Serving
Mix all the drinks in a pitcher and then add the fruit. Cut the grapes in half before adding them to the pitcher.
For the best results, you need to leave everything to settle and infuse for a few hours. I recommend preparing it the night before Halloween and leave it to rest in the fridge overnight.
The longer you leave the drink, the darker – and spookier – it will get.
Serve chilled with or without ice.
