This week we’re keeping the Halloween theme going with Carissa Pearce who writes under the moniker The Fermeted Alaskan. Pearce lives in Anchorage, but creates drink recipes for the New Orleans-based company Tales of the Cocktail, and we got her to share some of her favorite Halloween-inspired concoctions.
PEARCE: I go out and hike and pick blueberries and cranberries and goldenberries and salmonberries and I’ll turn it into liqueurs. So my friends kept asking me to make more, and I started making more. And then they’re like, “Well, you should make cocktails out of these.”
Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I do a party every year at my house and it’s all Halloween-themed drinks. So I do candy corn cocktails and Sour Patch Kids shots. And I’ll use some of my infusions in there and pop a little piece of dry ice in it so it’s all smoky and spooky.
The cider… it’s super easy. You can get your favorite brand and I’ll put it in a pot on the stove. And I dump an entire 16-ounce bag of Brock cinnamon red disc candies in it, and I’ll heat it up and stir it until it melts. And then I just stick the ladle in there and people can come up and get their own cider. And it’s cinnamony and delicious. I also, for the alcoholic version, I will add whiskey to it.
My favorite Halloween cocktail is a spin-off of the Corpse Revival, and I call it The Walking Dead. So, I infused gin with fresh cherries and then I have lemon thyme-infused gin that I mix with it. I put in orange liqueur — which I use Grand Marnier. You can use other orange liqueurs if you want. I use Lillet, which is a fortified wine, fresh lemon juice and orange blossom water spray on the top, and I pop a piece of dry ice in there. It’s mind-blowing, the flavors.
I do love candy, so if I can stick a Reese’s Pieces and infuse it and make a cocktail out of it, it’s fun for me. I get to play a little bit and act like a little kid.
Dave Waldron began his radio career in 2000 as a volunteer DJ at UAA’s radio station KRUA 88.1, where he hosted a weekend music show. In 2004 he was hired as the station’s music director, and held the position until his graduation in 2007. He was hired by Alaska Public Media in 2008 and since then has worked as an audio engineer, editor, and producer. He currently runs his own small business AK Audio Pro, and is a host of Alaska Public Media’s Hometown, Alaska.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
