Side Eye cocktail recipe

I was working in the lab late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight, for my monster from his slab began to rise and suddenly to my surprise… The Side Eye! (cue ‘Monster Mash’). As you may have guessed from our little opening, our latest recipe is a Halloween-themed cocktail.

Named for its googly lychee eyes, the Side Eye is a playful mix of pineapple juice, passionfruit, vodka, orange curacao and a port float that gives the drink a wonderful lava lamp-ish marble. Not just a treat for the eyes, this little baby is a tropical, fruity sipper that is super simple yet impressively refreshing. Spooky enough for Halloween, delicious enough for year-round.

In terms of close relatives on the cocktail family tree, this guy is kind of like a Pornstar Martini cross Cosmopolitan in flavour, but its closest cousin is Milk and Honey’s East 8 Hold Up. That has the same core ingredients: vodka, orange liqueur, pineapple, passionfruit and lime, sans float and served in a short glass – and was created in 2010 by Milk and Honey’s Kevin Armstrong. The story goes that he named the cocktail after an area of London where his friend was mugged known as E8. Sam was busting and decided to, erm, ‘relieve himself’ on a nearby wall and an opportunistic mugger took the chance to rob him. Pretty scary, no? Almost Halloween-esque, you’d say.

Anyway, if you’d like to try this terrifyingly delicious, horrifyingly awesome cocktail, have a squiz at our recipe and top tips below.

So, you’ve made it this far… It seems curiosity did kill the cat (our attempt at being spooky, soz). In terms of cocktails, this one is pretty easy to make. The only thing that might trip you up just a little bit is pouring the float. But don’t stress, just follow the recipe and if you’re finding it hard to nail the float, try slowly and gently pouring your port over the back of a bar spoon as close as possible to the glass – that way the port will float on the top before it marbles through the drink.  

Lastly, make sure you prepare your lychee googly eyes before you start making your drink, so when it's time to make the cocktail look all nice and pretty, your drink is fresh and at its best. 

Happy Halloween!