'Hocus Pocus' fans will love celebrating Halloween with this spooky cocktail, inspired by the 'black flame candle'

Can't get enough of the Sanderson sisters? The good news is, spooky season's not quite over yet. And, if you're curious what to serve the adult trick-or-treaters at your next Halloween gathering, there's a Hocus Pocus-inspired cocktail for that.

When Disney+ released the highly anticipated Sanderson sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, on Sept. 30, audiences were given another chance to enjoy Winifred, Mary and Sarah — again played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker — in all their witchy glory. Before the sequel's release, I turned to The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook for a dinner recipe to get my family in the spooky spirit: a Baked Witch Casserole.

To watch the second installment in the Hocus Pocus franchise, I opened my spell book ... I mean, cookbook ... again and decided to make a more grown-up beverage: the Black Flame Cocktail.

If you're unfamiliar with Hocus Pocus lore, in both the original and sequel, the Sanderson Sisters are only able to return to the mortal world with the help of the ubiquitous "black flame candle." It must be "lit by a virgin on Halloween night during a full moon to raise the spirits of the dead for as long as the flame burns (only one night)."

Bridget Thoreson, author of The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook, calls her book "a love letter to Hocus Pocus."

"I hope other fans enjoy it," she tells Yahoo Life, "and that it inspires a bit of positive nostalgia as they read through and notice all the little details and references to the film."

The fun is in the details, according to Thoreson, so if you pick up your own copy of the book, make sure to spend some time reading the descriptions and recipe titles before you begin cooking. "I spent a huge chunk of the writing process reworking the headnotes to try to get as many inside jokes into each one as possible in a way that still made sense and would hopefully be fun for fans to remember the jokes and details," she says, "even if they haven't seen the movie in a while."

My personal experience making Thoreson's cocktail involved a little educational research. I had never had a cocktail with dry vermouth before, and, honestly, I wasn't even sure what it was. I headed to my local liquor store to pick up black rum, and while I was there, I looked high and low for the vermouth.

Turns out, vermouth is sold in my local grocery store, next to the wine. Never hurts to learn something new, right? After gathering all the ingredients, it was time to get to work.

Be warned, this drink is very strong. It is, quite literally, two different kinds of alcohol mixed together, with not much else. While festive and fun, you won't need too many to get yourself into the Halloween spirit.

Unfortunately, I was unable to test out the "flame" portion of this Black Flame Cocktail. It calls for a "drizzle of Bacardi 151," a highly-flammable over-proof rum, which was discontinued by the brand in 2016. There are other brands who produce over-proof rum, but the color of the cocktail, along with the sugared rim and garnish, felt festive enough for me — no flame necessary.

Pro tip: One adjustment I made to the recipe was using colored cake decorating sugar I already had on hand to rim my glass. If you want to take the extra step to make your own colored sugar, the instructions in the recipe are very easy to follow.

Ready to make your own Black Flame Candle cocktail? Find the recipe below.

Black Flame Cocktail

Courtesy of Bridget Thoreson, The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook

I know what you're thinking — you're too cool for school and not afraid of a little old cocktail. But be ye warned — just like black magic and three ancient hags, this cocktail is not to be trifled with. Though it does not include the fat of a hangman, this combination of ingredients could be called hair-raising. So be sure you don't have too many, or thou wouldst hate thyself in the morning.

Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• ⅛ cup sugar

• food coloring

• lime wedge

• 2 ounces Captain Morgan Black Rum

• ½ ounce dry vermouth

• blackberry, for garnish

• ¼ ounce Bacardi 151 (or other over-proof rum)

Instructions:

1. Chill a cocktail glass.

2. Pour the sugar into a small resealable storage bag.

3. Add a few drops of the food coloring to turn the sugar the desired color. Shake the bag well to distribute the coloring throughout the sugar.

4. Dump the bag contents onto a plate.

5. Use a lime wedge to rim the cocktail glass.

6. Dip the rim of the glass in the colored sugar so it is evenly coated with the sugar.

7. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the black rum and vermouth and shake well.

8. Strain the cocktail into the rimmed glass.

9. Garnish with a blackberry.

10. Optional: Drizzle the Bacardi 151 (or other over-proof rum) onto the top of the cocktail and light on fire. Let it burn out before you drink!

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