Headless Horseman
Cachaça, pumpkin purée, coconut cream and allspice dram blended into a frosty tiki-style pumpkin drink, crowned with a flaming lime shell. Created by Ryan Liloia at Brooklyn's Leyenda.
- 2 ozcachaca
- 1½ ozpumpkin puree(canned is fine)
- ¾ ozcoconut cream
- ½ ozallspice dram
- ½ ozcinnamon syrup
- ½ ozfresh lime juice
- ½ ozfresh orange juice
- 1 cupice
- Flaming lime shell (a spent lime half holding an overproof-rum-soaked sugar cube), dusted with ground cinnamongarnish
- 1Squeeze the lime for the juice and save one spent lime half to use as the garnish shell.
- 2Add the cachaça, pumpkin purée, coconut cream, allspice dram, cinnamon syrup, lime juice, orange juice and 1 cup of ice to a blender.
- 3Blend until smooth and slushy, then pour into a tiki mug.
- 4Float the spent lime half on top, cut side up, and set a sugar cube soaked in overproof rum inside it.
- 5Light the cube with a long lighter, away from hair, sleeves and decorations, and dust a pinch of ground cinnamon over the flame for sparks.
- 6Let the flame burn out completely and remove the lime shell before anyone drinks. Never sip through or pick up a lit garnish.
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The Headless Horseman was created by bartender Ryan Liloia at Leyenda, Ivy Mix's cocktail bar at 221 Smith Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where cachaça drinks were a house specialty. It ran on the bar's tiki-leaning Halloween menu, and Imbibe Magazine later published the recipe, describing it as a somewhat tropical take on pumpkin spice. Home tiki writers and the Vegas Tiki Show on YouTube have since reproduced the same seven-ingredient spec. The name points to the ghostly rider in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, first published in 1820 in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., and the burning lime shell on top plays the part of the Horseman's flaming head. Leyenda announced it would close on March 28, 2025, after a ten-year run on Smith Street.
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