By DINA L. DOOLEN

tasteplus@tucsoncitizen.com

Planning a Halloween party?

Here are some ideas for new cocktails to make, plus beers to buy with a seasonal twist.

For the first cocktail, we don’t have a recipe. But, the next time you’re at Janos, you can buy owner Chef Janos Wilder’s creation and support the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museaum.

Wilder’s Eco-Blast is a tequila-cranberry cocktail with a dash of fresh habanero chile.

Some of the proceeds from the sale of Eco-Blast over the next year will benefit the Desert Museum’s Desert Ark education program.

Wilder is debuting the cocktail Nov. 5 at the Chefs ‘n’ Critter benefit at Janos, 3770 E. Sunrise Drive.

We’ve also included some seasonal cocktail recipes from Bacardi, which recommends using its Bacardi Superior Rum, of course, but you can decide that yourself.

Seasonal brews hit town

If you prefer beer, Metro Tucson’s brew pubs and specialty liquor stores have plenty of seasonal brews and will only be getting more through the holidays

In fact, as Octoberfest season winds down, holiday beers already are in at many specialty shops, as breweries try to beat each other to the shelves, says Robert Stout, “beer guy” at Plaza Liquors and Fine Wines.

At 58 Degrees & Holding Co.’s East Side shop, many Halloween-themed ales are on the shelves, with holiday beers in after Nov. 1, says Kathleen Carter, director of operations.

Meanwhile at Rumrunner Wine & Cheese Co., Manager James Dambrowski says, the staff is mostly stocking up on darker beers and stouts, with a few holiday brews in the mix.

“That’s the fun of it, just seeing what it’s like each year,” Stout says, noting that breweries will vary ingredients in their holiday beers.

As for the taps, local breweries and the chains have a variety of pumpkin ales and darker beers, with new arrivals expected in a couple of weeks.

BEERS OF THE SEASON

Here is just a sample of the seasonal beers

In stores

58 DEGREES & HOLDING 5340 E. Broadway, 747-5858

• Mephistopheles’ Stout (Avery Brewing, Boulder, Colo.)

• Old Jubilation Ale (Avery), coming soon

• Redemption Red (Reaper Ale, Vista, Calif.)

PLAZA LIQUORS & FINE WINES 2642 N. Campbell Ave., 327-0452

• Jubelale (Deschutes Brewery Inc., Bend, Ore.)

• Punkin Ale (Dogfish Head, Milton, Del.)

• Shipyard Pumpkin Ale (Shipyard Brewing Co., Portland, Maine)

RUMRUNNER WINE & CHEESE CO. 3200 E. Speedway Blvd., 326-0121

• Delirium Noël (Brouwerij Huyghe, Belgium), coming soon

• Gonzo Imperial Porter (Flying Dog Brewery, Denver)

• Winter Welcome (Samuel Smith Old Brewery, England), coming soon

On tap

LOCAL DOUGH 1702 E. Speedway Blvd., 327-1132

• Corsendonk Brown (Brouwerij Corsendonk, Belgium)

• Dogfish Head Raison D’Extra (Dogfish Head)

• Speedway Stout (AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego)

OLD CHICAGO 2960 N. Campbell Ave., 327-6200

• Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter (Four Peaks Brewing Co., Tempe)

• Sam Adams Octoberfest (Boston Beer Co., Boston)

• Spaten Oktoberfest (Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, Germany)

THUNDER CANYON BREWERY 7401 N. La Cholla Blvd., Suite 178, 797-2652

• Märzen Oktoberfest (Thunder Canyon Brewery, Tucson)

Harvest Moon

3 ounces Bacardi Superior Rum

1 ounces DiSaronno amaretto

3 ounces orange juice

1 teaspoon of orange marmalade

Pour ingredients into a shaker filled with ice, shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled short glass.

Serves 1.

Pumpkin Pie Martini

1 1/2 ounces Bacardi Superior Rum

1 tablespoon Sweetened Pumpkin Pie Filling

1 tablespoon vanilla ice cream

2 teaspoon simple syrup

dash of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

Pour ingredients into a shaker filled with ice, shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Serves 1.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Taste Plus. Tags for this post: Alcohol, Arizona, Dina L. Doolen, On tap, page-T10, Tucson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.