The Dementor’s Kiss is the perfect Halloween cocktail. Dark, mysterious and delicious, this cocktail won’t steal your soul, but it might steal the show!
Come October, I am ready for all things Festive. And no movie puts me into a more magical, festive mood than Harry Potter. It’s a love instilled by my mom. She absolutely loved Harry Potter and read the books way before any of her kids did. She carried that love over to us and since then, we have all been besotted with HP. The song at the beginning barely starts before my brother and I are already excited. So when I was thinking about what cocktail to design for this Halloween, I knew it was going to be Harry Potter inspired.
And what better way to celebrate Halloween and all things spooky by creating a delicious but sinister-looking cocktail?
How to make a Dementor’s Kiss cocktail
- Make the simple syrup: Combine equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add a cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pod and a pinch of nutmeg. Allow to simmer until the sugar has dissolved then remove from the heat and allow to cool before straining.
- Make the cocktail: Combine 2 parts chocolate vodka, 1 part Kahlua (or coffee liqueur of your choice) and 1-2 parts spiced syrup (depending on taste) in a shaker with ice. Shake until well combined and chilled then pour into chilled martini glasses and serve. To add some flare, drop a a small pellet of dry ice into each cocktail. Be very careful when serving dry ice in cocktails as it can’t be ingested or touch skin. Allow the dry ice to evaporate completely before serving.
If you want to serve this at a kids’ party for effect, simply serve black soda (Coca-Cola or Pepsi) with some dry ice in it. The kids will go nuts for the smoky effect of the dry ice.
Halloween recipes

Dementor's Kiss Cocktail
Ingredients
For the spiced syrup
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cardamom pod, cracked
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 star anise
For the cocktail
- ½ cup Kahlua (coffee liqueur)
- 1 cup Chocolate Vodka
- ½-1 cup spiced syrup to taste
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the simple syrup in a saucepan set over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the sugar has dissolved then remove from the heat and allow to cool before straining the spices out.
- To make the cocktail, combine the Kahlua, Vodka and syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until chilled then pour into martini glasses.
- Optional: Add a small pellet of dry ice into each glass and allow to evaporate completely before serving.
Recipe says 2 cups water and 1 cup water for syrup. No sugar listed. Instructions say combine equal parts sugar and water. So is it 2 cups water & 2 cups sugar or is it 1 and 1?
I’ve fixed the recipe, thanks for letting me know Jennifer!