The Perfect Spirit for Halloween – Smirnoff Red Widow Cocktail

Last Updated on January 2, 2026

The Red Widow – Bloody Mary with an Oriental Twist.

As a child, I was never allowed to get involved in Halloween activities.  My mother thought it was an ‘American’ activity and as such, just as I wasn’t allowed to eat anything that was called a ‘cookie’ or eat ‘candy’, getting involved in ‘trick or treat’ was strictly off limits.  Of course, she was mistaken, at least in the origin of Halloween festivities, which are actually linked both to the Celtic Christian celebration of All Hallows Eve, a festival to pray for recently departed souls and to Samhain, the Pagan ‘end of summer’.  And, since my mother was from the Celtic West Country and my father from the Celtic Western Isles of Scotland there seems to be very little excuse for banning Halloween.

So, now I feel entitled to make up for lost time and instead of celebrating Halloween with sweets I like to indulge in cocktails and cakes.  More of the cakes to come later, I’m sharing a great new variation on a Bloody Mary that I’ve been trying recently.  I like cocktails but I don’t generally have exotic mixers on hand so the idea of a drink that is different but that I can create from ingredients in my store cupboard is VERY appealing.  I guess not everyone keeps wasabi on hand, but I like the piquant heat of this Oriental horseradish so other than buying the fresh ingredients I could make the spicy and exotic Red Widow Halloween cocktail without having to go shopping.

One tip for making this kind of cocktail is to prepare everything in advance – you really don’t want to be scrubbing celery or crushing garlic once your guests arrive.  And, something I’d do differently next time is to crush the ice – I found the whole cubes just a little too dominating.  I think if you wanted to make a ‘Virgin Widow’ it would work rather well too, although personally, I liked the kick of the Smirnoff Vodka in this as much as in a classic Bloody Mary.

Other than that, this is a very simple drink to make – so why not jazz up your classic Bloody Mary.  If you’d like a range of Halloween cocktails to try then head over to the bar website where you can find a whole range of special drinks to make your Halloween party go with a bang!

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The Red Widow Cocktail

Prep Time

10 mins

Total Time

10 mins

 

Course: Beverage

Servings: 1

Author: thebar

Ingredients

• 35 ml Smirnoff No 21 Vodka Chilled
• 100 ml Tomato Juice Chilled
• 1/2 teaspoon Wasabi
• 1/2 clove Garlic Crushed
• 1 dash Soy Sauce
• 2 Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 wedge Lemon
• 1 stalk Celery
• Crushed Ice

Instructions

1. Fill a glass with ice
2. Pour Smirnoff No 21 Vodka and Tomato Juice into the glass
3. Add the garlic, wasabi and soy sauce
4. Stir well
5. Garnish with a lemon wedge, a stick of celery and two cherry tomatoes
6. Serve immediately

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