Even though many weekends in the bars appear to be Halloween-like this time of year, the true celebration will take place Oct. 26-27 as Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year.

The usual venues for costume contests are the Imperial Billiard & Bar and the Rendezvous for the downtown people and Marlintini's Lounge for those in the Mendenhall Valley. Most of these venues give out prizes in different categories and sometimes include cash. This year the Alaskan Hotel & Bar will have some spooky bluegrass music, and like other venues, is running specials all monthlong.

A few wacky cocktails for the Halloween season that I found to be actually palatable are made with black vodka. The most popular black vodka on the market is Blavod, which is made with the herbal extract catechu, giving the vodka its black color. As this is vodka, it is still within the confines of the vodka-flavor profile. And although black, Blavod differs very little from any other type of vodka and bills itself as premium and extremely smooth.

The first creepy cocktail is called a "Black Cat," which is made with two ounces of Blavod topped off with a half an ounce of Chambord or any other type of raspberry liquor served on the rocks.

Another tasty but creepy looking cocktail is the "Dark Driver." It's easy to make. It is just orange juice on the rocks with a two-ounce float of Blavod on top.

A little "Black Magic" is made with two ounces of Blavod, or any other vodka, and coffee liqueur on the rocks "Black Russian"-style with half an ounce of lemon juice added.

A quick shooter called the "Ghost Buster" can be made by adding one-third of a shot of peach schnapps to a shot glass followed by one-third of a shot of melon liqueur with an Irish cream float on top. If it doesn't float well, the Irish cream can be added to the prior ingredients.

Most bartenders would be happy to create the above-mentioned drinks for customers, but an old favorite many refuse to make is the "Zombie," which dates from the 1950s and is dangerously laden with alcohol. While it has many different recipes, a good one to make for friends at home is the classic.

This version is made with an ounce and a half of gold, silver and dark rums poured over ice in a pint glass. Then top the drink off with pineapple, papaya juice and the juice of one whole lime. Then add a teaspoon of powdered sugar, followed with a float of 151-proof rum. The drink can be garnished with a wedge of pineapple and a few maraschino cherries. Although tasty when made properly, it might be appropriately named, as the consumer of a couple of these cocktails might be considered a "zombie."Happy drinking and beware of ghouls and goblins.

• Keith Crocker can be contacted at kpcrocker@gmail.com.