It’s officially summer! Summer is hanging out on front stoops, backyard BBQ’s, trips to the beach, picnics in the park, and floating down rivers. Summer provides the perfect excuse to lounge outside… preferably with a drink in hand. With temperatures climbing, nothing could be more refreshing than something frozen with a bit of alcohol. Even if you don’t have your very own frozen drinks machine, you can still make delicious, frozen, boozy, slurp-able snacks.
Here at Skurnik, we have a few easy options for frozen concoctions. But before whipping up your favorite cocktail and throwing it in the freezer, there are a few things to keep in mind. Number one and most importantly, alcohol by volume (ABV). To get the most desirable texture and to stop your pop from dripping down your hand, try to keep the ABV between 8-10%. For the lazy mathematician, 10 is a nice, workable number. If you start with a low-ABV bottle of wine like a Riesling you can easily make something delicious, like a Friesling!
Friesling
- 3 oz Selbach Incline Riesling
- .5 oz Aragoshi Yuzu Sake
- .5 oz fresh lime juice
- 8 oz ice
Blend and serve!
Say you want a margarita or something a little higher proof, this can get a bit trickier. Azteca Azul Silver Tequila is exactly 40% ABV… but remember, the desired ABV for a frozen drink is between 8-10%. Therefore you’ll want to dilute your margarita batch to one part tequila, nine parts total of citrus, sugar and water (10% alcohol and 90% all the rest).
Tequila Sour
- 10 oz Aztec Azul Blanco Tequila
- 8 oz fresh lime juice
- 10 oz honey syrup or simple syrup
- 2 oz water
*make approximately 30 cubes
For the simplest and most affordable way to make this frozen boozy treat, mix the recipe above in a large container, then simply fill your ice cube trays with the mixture, freeze overnight and enjoy the Tequila Sour cubes with a splash of Giffard Curaçao Triple Sec or Rhum JM Shrubb. You could also toss them straight in the blender and make a slushy! Another option, would be to go one step further and insert a popsicle stick directly in the middle of the booze cube, top it with a tiny bit of water, replace back in the freezer for a couple hours and – voila – you have a cube shaped margarita on a stick!
You may have also noticed something else about the above recipe; there is ever so slightly more sugar than citrus. For the calorie conscious or the “can you make it less sweet” among you, we apologize. However, there is this mysterious thing that happens during the freezing process: a recipe that is delicious to drink room temperature turns 100% sour, bitter or completely bland when frozen.
If the cube on a stick is too rudimentary for you, there are many options for DIY popsicles. Tovolo makes an eco-friendly mold with reusable plastic handles, or you can use a traditional mold with wooden sticks.
Once you’ve picked your method and purchased your popsicle sticks, it’s time for some recipes. We’ve noticed Turmeric Lattes are all the rage, and with reason. Turmeric has many health benefits, tastes delicious and gives us a deep but bright yellow color perfect for a photo-worthy popsicle to show off!
Spiced(!) Turmeric Coconut Pops
- 2.5 oz Chairman’s Reserve Spiced Rum
- 6 oz ginger syrup*
- 10 oz coconut milk
- 2 oz turmeric powder
* makes approximately 10 popsicles
Whisk ingredients together with a fork, pour into the popsicle molds, freeze and enjoy!
*for homemade ginger syrup, combine fresh ginger juice and sugar at 2:1 (two parts ginger juice to one part white sugar) and stir until fully integrated and add to your cocktails!
Basil Business
- 2 oz Square One Basil Vodka
- 8 oz honey syrup*
- 6 oz fresh lime juice
- 2 oz water
*for homemade honey syrup, combine honey and hot water at 2:1 (two parts honey to one part hot water) and stir until fully integrated, let cool and add to your cocktails!
Gin and Juice Pops
- 2 oz Greenhook Ginsmiths American Dry Gin
- 8 oz pomegranate syrup (aka grenadine) *
- 6 oz fresh lemon juice
- 2 oz water
*for homemade grenadine, combine equal parts white sugar and unsweetened pomegranate juice. Stir until fully integrated and add to your cocktails!
For a homemade rosé granita, simply fill your ice cube trays with the mixture above, freeze overnight and enjoy the Gin and Juice cubes with a splash of Pinot Project Rosé (pictured above)!
If slurping on a hand-held, boozy, ice-on-a-stick doesn’t sound as appealing to you as when you were a kid, check out Skurnik’s take on a classic cocktail made frozen for your spooning pleasure. For blended drinks, add liquid and ice cubes to a blender. Sounds simple (which it is) … but it can easily turn into just a cold diluted beverage if you’re not careful! The rule here is to use one whole cup of ice per cocktail; if you’re making a batch, try only two or three drinks at a time to ensure there is enough space in your blender. Also, our extra sugar rule applies here too.
Grilled Pineapple
- 1 oz El Dorado Cask Aged 8yr Rum
- .5 oz Hamilton Distillers Del Bac Clear Mesquite Smoked Whiskey
- 1 oz Giffard Carribean Pineapple
- .75 oz ginger syrup
- .75 oz fresh lemon juice
- .5 oz honey syrup
- 8 oz ice
Blend on high and serve with a slice of pineapple.
If you were paying attention last summer, you may have noticed frozen rosé was everywhere… well, this summer it’s a staple. Luckily, it’s super simple and totally refreshing!
Frozen Rosé (or Frosé if you must)
- 3 oz Pinot Project Rosé
- 1 oz Giffard Abricot du Roussillon
- .25 oz Argala Bitter
- .5 oz simple syrup
- .5 oz fresh lime juice
- 8 oz ice
Blend and serve.
Keep in mind these recipes are not fool-proof or guaranteed, so be prepared to drink a little bit of alcoholic slush in the process… just to try it out. But that’s not so bad, right? Stay fresh out there!
