Cocktails
Halloween Vampire Ruby Port and Tonic
This Vampire Ruby Port and Tonic is a ruby-red Halloween cocktail with a dark cocoa-sugar half rim. Ruby port brings sweet, ripe-fruit flavor; tonic adds a bitter, fizzy finish. Guests can turn the glass to compare a plain sip with a chocolate-rimmed one. The wine is the only alcohol, and the drink is built directly in the glass.
Recipe reviewed 9 Oct 2026. How we test recipes.
Have ingredients already? Find cocktails you can make with My Bar.
WHAT YOU NEED
Ingredients
METHOD
How to make it
- Put the cocoa powder and garnish sugar in a shallow saucer and mix them together with a dry teaspoon. Put the garnish water in a second saucer.
- Use a clean fingertip or a small pastry brush to wet only the outside of half the rim of each 10 to 12 oz wine glass with the garnish water. Leave the other half plain.
- Gently roll the damp half rim through the cocoa-sugar mixture. Keep the coating thin and wipe away any powder inside the glass. Set the glass upright.
- Fill each rimmed glass about halfway with ice, dropping the cubes through the plain side so they do not knock off the coating.
- Measure the chilled ruby port using the ingredient list above and pour it over the ice, down the plain side of the glass.
- Slowly add the measured chilled tonic water down the same side. Give the drink one gentle stir with a long spoon, keeping the spoon away from the cocoa rim.
- Serve immediately while the tonic is lively. Sip from the cocoa-coated half for a chocolate accent, or from the plain half to compare the flavors.
TASTED THIS RECIPE?
Rate this drink
Something wrong or not matching?
Choose the port and adjust the drink
Choose a young ruby port, which gives the red color. Tawny port produces a browner drink and a different flavor; white port will not give this vampire look. You do not need an aged or vintage bottle for mixing.
Start with the equal measures listed above. If the drink tastes too sweet, use a less sweet tonic for the next glass; for a lighter pour, replace 1 oz of the listed port with 1 oz more tonic. Both changes alter the estimates. Keep the cocoa coating thin so it adds a chocolate note rather than a dusty mouthful.
For several guests, scale the recipe with the serving selector. Prepare the rims and measure the port ahead, keeping the port chilled. Add fresh ice and tonic only as each drink is served. A narrow jug pour or a small measuring cup helps keep liquid off the rim.
Serve alongside the children's Spiderweb Raspberry Yogurt Smoothie. For another adult style, try the Headless Horseman Cognac Old Fashioned or browse the Halloween drinks collection.
The estimates use Sandeman Fine Ruby's published reference values: 19.5% ABV and 152 kcal per 100 ml. Other ruby ports and tonic brands can differ.
Use ruby port, not tawny or white port, for the red color. Calorie estimates exclude the cocoa-sugar rim and unused wetting water. Estimated strength uses a 19.5% ABV ruby port and the site's standard 20% stirred-ice dilution; actual melting and bottle strength vary. Do not shake a carbonated drink.
Reader comments
Loading comments…