Boo! It’s Halloween in quarantine
Brown Bag picks for fall drinking festivities
Fall is here and the holidays are on the horizon – some say Christmas is the most wonderful time of year, but we beg to differ. Cool, crisp air; leaves falling off trees and all the pumpkin-flavored foods we can consume. Spooky movies, trips to the haunted houses downtown and – best of all – the countless costumed parties that have you getting increasingly creative lest you dare to show up in the same bed sheet with eye holes twice. Halloween is on a Saturday this year, and it was posed to have one of the best Halloweens in recent memory – no work the next day? Sign us up. But just because we all need to be a little more cautious this year (yes, we still do. Wash your hands, wear a mask, socially distance, try curbside!) doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the taste of fall. Whether you’re more of a beer, wine or cocktail kind of person, we’ve got something for you. Check it out!
Brown Bag Selects: Apple Cider Mules
Our first pick for fall: Apple Cider Mules. It’s our cocktail of the month, and using this recipe from Delish, we’ll be showing you how to make them on our page. But if you’ve never made a mule, trust us when we say it’s not hard! All you’ll need for this refreshing fall classic vodka, ginger beer and sparkling cider. And if you want to get fancy, you can even garnish your drink with a sliced apple and cinnamon sticks. And of course you’ll need a few copper mugs for you and your friends to drink out of, which you can pick up at Brown Bag while you’re picking up your booze. Any vodka will do here; feel free to get as creative or as simple as you please. And if you’re not much of a vodka drinker, we won’t tell anyone if you swap vodka out for rum in the recipe. In this instance, we recommend getting doubly festive with Captain Morgan Jack-O-Blast. It’s pumpkin-spiced rum, and damn right it comes in a pumpkin-shaped bottle. Run, don’t walk!
Brown Bag Selects: Vampire Wines
Despite its spooky namesake, this wine definitely doesn’t suck. Quite the opposite, actually. Vampire Wines promises “the taste of immortality,” and once you try it for yourself, you’ll see why. Vampire Wine is available in both white and (duh) red, and we swear it doesn’t taste like blood. You can pick up Vampire Chardonnay or Vampire Pinot Grigio, or an assortment of red wine blends. And while supplies last, you can pick up Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon with a Vampire Wine Cape. Because who doesn’t want a cape for their bottles of wine? And if you decide to go as a vampire for Halloween yourself…well, you get the idea.
Brown Bag Selects: Schlafly Pumpkin Ale & Oktoberfest
While we love all seasonal beers as a concept, we’ll be the first to admit that they do not all taste the same. Winter beers are fine and summer beers are pretty good, but fall beer is what breweries really get right. Look no further than our friends at Schlafly in St. Louis if you’re curious where to start. The Schlafly Pumpkin Ale is the perfect complement to all your fall festivities, a crowd-pleaser in the truest sense. Whether you’re hitting the corn maze, watching your kids’ soccer games or settling in for an afternoon of football – nothing tastes like fall quite like the Schlafly Pumpkin Ale. And if you don’t believe in the pumpkin hype, Schlafly has another card up its sleeve just for you: Schlafly Oktoberfest. It’s toasty and sweet (but not too sweet!), and it’ll have you wishing we could live in fall all year long.
There you have it! Fall is here, and these drinks are the best way to make the most of it. For more hand sanitizer and masks, tips and weekly specials, be sure to like Brown Bag Liquor on Facebook and follow us on Instagram. Happy drinking, and stay safe and sane out there!