This “Ominous Gaze” sparkling Halloween eyeball cocktail is easy to make in a batch and comes garnished with a little lychee eyeball for extra spooky fun! Made with sake, cherry syrup, lemon, and a dash of sparkly prosecco, your Halloween party guests will giggle all the way to the bottom of the glass.
I made this oogidy bookidy cocktail for my husband’s Halloween birthday party dinner, and it was such a hit! I premixed everything but the Prosecco, and made the eyeball garnishes ahead of time. When guests arrived, I simply poured the cocktails, added a little cherry syrup from my Luxardo cherry jar, topped it with sparkles, and plopped an eyeball on top.
To make the eyeball garnishes, you’ll require cocktail pins, canned lychees in syrup, and Luxardo maraschino cherries. I find these to be the best brand of maraschino cherries for this cocktail (and in general) since they’re sized perfectly for the lychees and have that great, deep red color. The cherry syrup makes the little eyeballs look extra spooky too.
I also love that the delicious cherry syrup pools at the bottom of the glass like a spooky pool of blOOOooooOOOood!
One of the great things about this cocktail, apart from it being simply delicious, is that you don’t have to be 100% accurate with your ingredient measurements. You can give it a sip and see if you’d like it a little more sweet or a little more sparkly and tailor the cocktail to your tastes.
The Simple Process
1. Juice a fresh lemon, and separate the lychee juice from the canned lychees into a glass.
2. In a cocktail shaker with ice, add 2 oz. sake, 1½ oz. lychee juice, and ½ oz. lemon juice. Shake vigorously.
3. Pour into a chilled coup glass, top with ½ oz. prosecco, and spoon ½ tsp. Luxardo cherry juice into the bottom of the glass.
4. Pop a Luxardo cherry into a lychee, pierce it with a cocktail pin, garnish the glass, and serve. It also helps to add a little more cherry juice to the cherry in the lychee to make it look extra spooky.
Ingredient Notes
sake – I like Sho Chiku Bai or Geken sake for large-batch cocktails because they’re nice, dry sakes that aren’t very expensive, and you can find them in big bottles.
prosecco – You can use champagne or sparkling wine as well, as long as it’s dry.
can of lychees – You’ll find these either in the canned fruit section or the Asian food section of your grocery store.
lemon – Use only fresh squeezed lemon juice, not bottled.
maraschino cherries – I highly suggest using Luxardo maraschino cherries instead of any other. Not only are they the most delicious maraschino cherries for cocktails, but they’re also the perfect size to fit inside lychees. Most maraschino cherries, I’ve found, are larger and won’t fit.
How to Make This Cocktail – Step-by-Step
1. Separate lychees from 1 19.9 oz. can of lychees in heavy syrup into a bowl. Save the syrup.
2. In a cocktail shaker with ice, add 2 oz. sake, 1½ oz. lychee juice, and ½ oz. fresh lemon juice. Shake vigorously.
3. Pour the cocktail into a frosted coup glass.
4. Top with ½ oz. prosecco.
5. Add ½ tsp. Luxardo cherry syrup (from the jar of cherries), and let it sink to the bottom of the glass.
6. Push 1 Luxardo cherry into the cavity of 1 lychee. Pierce with a cocktail pin and garnish your cocktail. Add a little more cherry syrup to the cherry in the lychee to make it look more “bloody” and serve.
Common Questions
If you don’t have Luxardo Maraschino Cherries, You can use a blueberry if you don’t mind it not looking as spooky, but I wouldn’t suggest using another brand of maraschino cherries. Virtually every other kind of maraschino cherry I’ve found is too big, and the juice is a little too electric red to look as “bloody.”
One 19.9 oz. can of lychees has about 1 cup of lychee juice, so you can get about 5-6 cocktails from 1 jar. For a party of 10, I assume folks will want at least 2 of these, so I pick up 4 cans. To make enough for 5 cocktails, mix:
10 oz. sake
8 oz. lychee juice
2½ oz. fresh lemon juice
2½ oz prosecco
2½ tsp. cherry syrup
I store the batched cocktail in a glass jar. When ready to serve, pour the cocktail into a cocktail shaker with ice, pour, top with prosecco, and give each glass ½ tsp. of cherry syrup from the jar.
If you want to serve this in a punch bowl, pour the sake, lychee juice, lemon juice, and prosecco into the bowl. Then, pour Luxardo cherry syrup into the bottom to give it that bloody effect.
For more inspiration, follow me on Instagram, on Pinterest, tiktok, and Facebook! And if you ever make any of my tasty drinks or treats, take a picture and tag me. I want to see!
A Few More Tasty Halloween Cocktails
The Ominous Gaze Halloween Cocktail
Equipment
- 1 cocktail shaker
- 1 cocktail pin
- 1 coup glass
Ingredients
- 2 oz. dry sake
- 1½ oz. lychee juice from one 19.9 oz. can of lychees in heavy syrup
- ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
- ½ oz. prosecco – or 1 oz. if you prefer more sparkles
- ½ tsp. Luxardo maraschino cherry syrup – from a jar of Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
- 1 Luxardo maraschino cherry
- 1 lychee from one 19.9 oz. can of lychees in heavy syrup
Instructions
- Separate lychees from 1 19.9 oz. can of lychees in heavy syrup into a bowl. Save the syrup.
- In a cocktail shaker with ice, add 2 oz. sake, 1½ oz. lychee juice, and ½ oz. fresh lemon juice. Shake vigorously. Pour cocktail into a frosted coup glass. Top with ½ oz. prosecco.
- Add ½ tsp. Luxardo maraschino cherry syrup (from the jar of cherries), and let it sink to the bottom of the glass.
- Push 1 Luxardo cherry into the cavity of 1 lychee. Pierce with a cocktail pin and garnish your cocktail. Add a little more lychee syrup to the cherry in the lychee to make it look more “bloody” and serve.
Notes
8 oz. lychee juice
2½ oz. fresh lemon juice
2½ oz prosecco
2½ tsp. cherry syrup See post for detailed instructions with photos of the process. Nutrition information is an estimate.
Leave a Reply