The spice must flow!
Brooklyn is crazy for the pumpkin spice latte! But there is no need to visit an international coffee chain to get a combination of espresso, pumpkin, and cinnamon spices. We’ve found a few places right here in the borough that are ready to pump-kin you up!
Spice girl
This pumpkin season, the restaurant and bar Midnights will serve “The Basic Witch,” a frozen cocktail blended with espresso, coconut milk, pumpkin, and vodka, and topped pumpkin seeds and a cinnamon stick. The spot’s creative director said the drink was inspired by the annual over-the-top frenzy for the Starbucks drink.
“We wanted to do a frozen, boozy, pumpkin spiced drink, and also make fun of it and ourselves a little bit,” said Paul Kolbe. “Most of our drinks have a playful names, and it’s Halloween, so we called it the Basic Witch.”
The bar creates the Witchy concoction in cauldron-sized batches so it can be quickly poured into cups for solo drinkers, or into a giant 28-ounce mug for sharing.
“It’s pretty popular, I have to say,” said Kolbe. “We actually sold out of it last weekend!”
The drink will be available through Thanksgiving.
Basic Witch at Midnights [149 N. Sixth St. between Bedford Avenue and Berry Street in Williamsburg, (718) 384–6961, www.midni
Ale and hearty
The Coney Island Brewing Company is pours a pumpkin spice latte–inspired beer this autumn. The Freaktoberfest Big Ol’ Pumpkin Ale is brewed with espresso beans and finished with an infusion of sweet pumpkin, along with dashes of cinnamon and allspice. The brew is currently available in six-packs at grocery stores all over the borough, and on tap straight from the source, at the brewery’s taproom in Coney Island.
The taproom also serves an exclusive Superfreak Imperial Pumpkin Ale at a whopping nine percent alcohol.
Coney Island Brewing Company [1904 Surf Ave. at W. 17th Street in Coney Island, (718) 996–0019, www.coney
We all scream
Ample Hills Creamery recognizes the pumpkin craze with its flavor No Sleep ’Til Pumpkin, a coffee ice cream studded with chunks of a pumpkin spice–flavored “Ooey Gooey Butter Cake,” a rich poundcake. The buzzy scoop will be available at all of the Brooklyn chain’s locations until the end of November.
Ample Hills [305 Nevins St. at Union Street in Gowanus, (347) 725–4061, www.ample
