Nightmare on Orange Hits with Big Flavors & Great Service

The Courtesy

The Courtesy Bar’s annual Halloween takeover, Nightmare on Orange, is back for another fantastical year of seasonal craft cocktails, decorations galore and the same incredible service you’ve come to expect from The Courtesy.

Let’s start with the basics. The takeover runs from September 22 through October 31. Reservations are required for parties of four or more and are released in three waves over the spooky season. Large parties can be hard to seat, so come with a few friends, but maybe not the entire gang. On a weekday, a table for two or a couple of seats at the bar can be had without much of a wait. Once October gets rolling, that becomes less of a sure thing.

Now on to the experience! We arrived for an 8 p.m. reservation and were greeted by Dan, who got us settled into a cozy booth facing the bar. It was a great spot to take in the decorations, watch the drinks go by and keep an eye on the TV, which was playing the 2002 thriller Unfaithful. I did not expect Richard Gere and Diane Lane to become part of my Halloween cocktail review, but here we are.

Once seated, it was time to study the seasonal menu. The Courtesy has some great mixologists, and I feel like they really get to flex their cocktail muscles with these events. This year’s lineup has 12 drinks, including one mocktail, plus two shots. Our server, Alex, a familiar face if you frequent Packwoods Bar in Maitland, gave us the rundown and helped us narrow down the options.

We started with the Freak of the Week ($17), a vodka cocktail with onion, pickle, tomato, poblano pepper and celery bitters, garnished with a little cocktail onion on a jack-o’-lantern pick. The pickle and celery are the real standouts. It lands somewhere between a dirty martini and a lighter Bloody Mary, with a crisp, savory profile that plays especially well with the Swine & Sons food menu. If your Halloween drink of choice doesn’t need to taste like candy, start here.

Inner Demons

We also tried the more tiki-forward Inner Demons ($18), made with several rums (the menu didn’t specify which), maduro gardenia, cinnamon, falernum, orange and lime. It arrives in a devil mug, which is exactly the sort of commitment to the theme I want from Nightmare on Orange. It’s lush, spiced and citrusy: pure tiki perfection in an evil vessel.

Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out why Richard Gere didn’t just leave Diane Lane. Instead, he decides to kill her lover and then does a terrible job disposing of the body. This was pre-Dexter, but even I knew he was doing it all wrong. Oh, Richard. Not the snow globe.

To balance the next round of drinks, we ordered the Swine & Sons Brussels sprouts ($12) with cranberries, toasted sunflower seeds, hot honey and Parmesan, along with the Chiang Mai Chicken Nuggets ($12). The nuggets have a light breading and a spicy kick, while shredded pickled papaya and mint bring a little coolness to each bite. The sprouts hit that sweet, salty and savory combination that makes it easy to keep picking at them while you debate your next cocktail.

At this point, there were still so many drinks left to try, but I only had one more in me. Dan recommended the Deathsquads ($17) after I told him I was a fan of chocolate. It combines r(h)ums, aguardiente, absinthe, banana, coconut, coffee mole, pineapple and chipotle cacao bitters. That is a lot happening in one mug, but he was right: I loved it. The banana and chocolate really came through, and it arrived in a skull-themed tiki mug with an edible orchid and tiny marshmallows. Delightfully over the top.

PB & Slay

Alex steered my husband toward the PB & Slay ($18), the most Old Fashioned-esque cocktail on the menu. But it isn’t just an Old Fashioned with a Halloween name. Rye whiskey, peanut butter, strawberry amari, vanilla and chocolate bitters come together in a rich, sippable drink garnished with a tiny PB&J. It tastes like a great transition from summer to fall, if that transition involved whiskey and a snack on a pick.

Chiang Mai Chicken Nuggets

For our last trick, we tried Swine & Sons’ classic smashburger ($14), served with American cheese, garlic dill pickles and secret sauce, plus a side of curly fries ($6). We also made room for one of The Courtesy’s seasonal shots: the “treat,” a guava-matcha flan Jell-O shot with Puerto Rican rum ($6). It’s a fun little finale to a night that had already given us devil mugs, skull mugs, a miniature sandwich and Richard Gere making one bad decision after another.

Nightmare on Orange gives The Courtesy’s bartenders room to have fun, and the service makes the whole thing feel easy, even when the cocktail menu takes some serious decision-making. Go with a friend who will let you taste their drink. You’ll want to try more than one.