The Dallas Observer Guide to Drinking Fancy on Halloween

Thanks to the switch to standard time, this year Halloween is an hour longer, which means you’ll have an extra 60 minutes to pound booze while you’re dressed like a sexy cat or sexy Walter White or whatever sexy costume you’ve chosen. That means you’re going to need to be smarter about your boozing. You don’t want to be “that guy” — you know, the one who's peeing his pants by 10 p.m. because he went a little heavy on the Fireball shots at the first bar stop.

So we’ve put together this handy guide to where (and how) you should be drinking this Halloween, classy-style. You could sit on the couch and get drunk while watching Hocus Pocus, or you could go out and have fancy cocktails that won’t make you feel like death the next day. Make the grown-up decision. 

Have a Harvest Flip at Proof + Pantry (above)

At $5, Proof + Pantry’s Pumpkin Flip cocktail is a real bargain. Mixed with Lakewood’s Punkel pumpkin ale, egg white, nutmeg and vanilla syrup, it’s a pumpkin-spice-style sip that’s still plenty refined. If you bring $20, you can pre-game enough to deal with the crowds on All Hallows’ Eve.

Sip a smoked cherry old fashioned at Parliament


As this Uptown bar noted on Facebook last week, they’re probably going to be in their “happy hour when it rains” mode again this holiday weekend, because more downpours are in our forecast. Luckily for you, it means you could order the bar’s crazy new smoked cherry old fashioned on the cheap. Other spookily low happy hour prices — $7 Ramos gin fizz, anyone? — are less than terrifying for broke folks trying to get live this weekend.


Drink a devilishly cheap cocktail at Henry’s Majestic

Chef Roe DiLeo and bar manager Alex Fletcher apparently take Halloween very seriously. This Saturday, Henry’s Majestic will host a “spooktacular” Halloween bash featuring a few of Fletcher’s always excellent cocktails for just $6.66. The Blood in the Water, made with a “beet tea reduction” and smoky mezcal, sounds perfect for the occasion, and you’ll only need a few to make singing “I Put a Spell on You” in your witch costume at karaoke sound like a really good idea.


Hang out with the weirdos at Black Swan Saloon

We have no idea what master barman Gabe Sanchez is plotting to mix up this Halloween, but you can bet that it will be both weird and delicious. More important, though, you’ll be able to sip excellent drinks with a clientele that is as eclectic and weird as you are. After a few drinks, you might start to feel like you wandered into a bizarre horror film where everyone is — gasp — friendly?


Continue your Halloween celebration into Sunday at Industry Alley

If you’ve worked in the service industry, you remember always having to work Halloween. Even if you’ve been out of the biz for a while, head to Industry Alley for a night of debauchery with the city’s best bartenders. Charlie Papaceno, formerly of The Windmill Lounge, is back and better than ever. He has opened up Industry Alley in the Cedars area, a place where the drinker’s drinker goes to drink. On Sunday, Industry Alley will host an industry Halloween party, where chef Misti Norris (of Small Brewpub) and Aaron Barker (of Carnival Barker's) will be selling food and ice cream. And, of course, those excellent Charlie Pap-mixed cocktails that you’ve been missing.