Remember that feeling of a cold slushie in your hand as a kid? Or a snow cone? There’s nothing quite like sudden brain freeze on a hot summer day.
Okay, maybe the brain-freeze memory is best left in the past, but that simple pleasure of cooling down with an icy drink on a sweltering day is something we can re-create with frozen cocktails.
Making a frozen cocktail may seem simple—add more ice and blend—but mastering the frozen cocktail is more challenging than it appears. With the help of industry experts, here are some tips on how to create stunning, delicious frozen drinks that don’t skimp on flavor—keeping you cool, in more ways than one.
Weird Science
If you’re expecting a hot cup of coffee and you get it at room temperature, you are disappointed. Likewise, getting a lukewarm glass of tea is a bummer when you are ready for an ice-cold glass.
Microscopic channels in our taste buds alter our perception of taste based on temperature. These channels react more strongly to food and drinks at higher temperatures. That reaction is what makes melted ice cream taste sweeter, for example, and why wine tastes less tannic when chilled.
However, much of what we perceive as flavor is actually a result of our sense of smell—and temperature also has a significant impact on aroma. When food is hot, for example, our nose picks up volatile aroma compounds more easily, and—assuming we find those compounds pleasant—it enhances our flavor experience. On the other hand, cold temperatures can inhibit the release of these same compounds, releasing fewer aromas and diminishing our perception of flavor.
Our brains combine all these signals from taste buds, temperature, and olfactory receptors to create a complete flavor experience. If cold temperatures weaken these signals, the overall perception of flavor becomes less intense.
So, when it comes to frozen cocktails, the key is to ensure that the desirable flavors remain despite the lower temperatures and any ice-driven dilution.
Cold, Bold, and Balanced
Understanding the importance of dilution is the first step to mastering frozen cocktails.
“The dilution element is very much present in frozen drinks,” says Nick Wright, Bacardí’s portfolio ambassador in the New York City metro area. “It is absolutely necessary to help the drink freeze, as alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water does. Typically, when you shake a drink, you achieve dilution through the melting of ice, which—depending on the ingredients being mixed—is somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. This is higher in frozen drinks—usually double that amount—as it adds [to] the dilution and helps the frozen drinks form, so it doesn’t melt too quickly.”
If you follow tennis as well as drinks, you may have heard about the cocktail that stole the show at this year’s U.S. Open. Promoted by tournament cosponsor Grey Goose, the official cocktail was the Honey Deuce. Refreshing and well-balanced, it’s a simple drink that features raspberry liqueur and lemonade.
“The lemonade and raspberry liqueur have a nice sweetness to them, which is what you need for frozen drinks,” Wright says. “You would need to dial up the sweetness to balance the drink, as the coldness dulls your palate.”
Courtesy Grey Goose
Frozen Honey Deuce
1¼ oz Grey Goose Vodka
3 oz fresh lemonade
½ oz raspberry liqueur
3 honeydew melon balls
In a blender, combine the vodka, lemonade, and raspberry liqueur with ice, and purée in short bursts until well combined. Garnish with the melon balls on a skewer.
Sailor’s Frozen Honey Deuce
I substitute fresh lemon juice for the lemonade, then include raspberry sorbet to bring sweetness and tang.
1 cup chopped honeydew melon
1 oz vodka
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz raspberry liqueur
½ cup raspberry sorbet
½ oz honey syrup
½ cup cubed ice
2–3 melon balls
Add all the ingredients except the melon balls to a blender and blend until they are broken down and combined. Garnish with the melon balls.
Choosing the Right Ingredients
New York’s famed Dead Rabbit bar is well known for its Irish coffees—including a frozen version.
“There are many ingredients that work well in a frozen cocktail, depending on what you want your final result to be,” says Dead Rabbit bar director Cory O’Brien-Pniewski. “In our case, the Irish cream liquor and cold-brew coffee are essential to the cocktail, and the extra bit of heavy cream helps thicken the consistency [to make] it reminiscent of a boozy milkshake.”
Knowing the flavor profiles of the spirits you choose for frozen cocktails is essential to the cocktail’s success, from the first sip to the last. The more you work with certain spirits and liqueurs, the more you master their profiles, the more successful you will be when working with them in any cocktail. And again, in the case of frozen drinks, it’s important to dilute the alcohol so that the drink can properly freeze.
“In our case,” says O’Brien-Pniewski, “we use lower-ABV spirits and coffee liqueurs, with the addition of heavy cream, cane syrup, and cold-brew coffee. We use Teeling Irish whiskey for its rum-raisin notes, which really enhance the boldness of the coffee flavor and raise the ABV enough to be boozy, but not enough to where it has trouble freezing.”
Rather than using high-proof spirits to raise the ABV, great frozen cocktails are more about using the right complementary ingredients. Liqueurs are among of the best options—including creams—which is partly why frozen piña coladas have enjoyed such long-lasting popularity.
Bacardí’s Wright says he’s a “sucker for piña coladas.”
And I love to add a bit more depth to mine by adding Bacardí Coconut Rum, to help boost the flavor of the coconut cream in the drink,” he says. “Sometimes it’s also nice to do a split with Bacardí Spiced Rum, allowing it to add some warm, spiced notes that complement the fruity, tropical notes. Using the best fresh syrups and juices always helps elevate the drink, but they aren’t always available. If this is the case, look to see which [commercial] ones work best, preferably with fewer stabilizers but still [with] consistency and good flavor.”
Coconut cream is a hero ingredient for frozen cocktails. I still remember the first time I got my hands on a bottle of Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut, ready to experiment. It made crafting tropical-style frozen cocktails so easy. Now there are many alternatives on the market, and I’ve mastered making my own cream of coconut—an essential ingredient in the classic frozen piña colada. Here’s the official recipe from the Bacardí team.
Courtesy Bacardí
Frozen Piña Colada
1½ oz Bacardí Coconut Rum
1¼ oz Coco Reàl or other coconut cream
1¼ oz pineapple juice
1 cup ice
1 pineapple wedge
1 cherry
In a blender, combine the rum, coconut cream, and juice with ice and purée in short bursts until well combined. Serve in a highball glass and garnish with the pineapple and cherry.
Sailor’s Piña Colada
I make a rendition of the piña colada for friends and family, and it’s become a summertime staple in my house. I don’t deviate much from the original recipe, but cinnamon and orange zest add music to the party without taking away from the classic flavors. (Because I’m allergic to pineapple, I make a separate batch for myself, swapping out the pineapple juice for a 1:1 mix of lime juice and simple syrup.)
1½ oz white rum
1¼ oz cream of coconut (see below)
1¼ oz pineapple juice
1 cup ice
1 pinch cinnamon
½ tsp orange zest
Combine all the ingredients with ice in a blender and blend until the ice is broken down. Pour into fun mugs or glasses and garnish with an orange peel.
Cream of Coconut
13½ fl oz full-fat unsweetened coconut milk
1¾ cup raw cane sugar
0.4 oz coconut milk powder
1/8 tsp sea salt
Combine all the ingredients in a pot and heat on low, stirring. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the mixture from the heat and blend with a stick blender until smooth. Once cooled, add the cream to a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.
Common Mistakes
Taste your creations—no matter how long you’ve been crafting cocktails, it’s essential to taste recipes several times and ask others for their thoughts to gather a general consensus.
But when it comes to frozen cocktails, in particular, what are some common pitfalls?
“Dilution and sweetness always need to be adjusted, but you also need to ensure that you get the ABV level right,” Wright says. “I find that somewhere around 10 to 12 percent is the sweet spot. I ... suggest testing a drink before inviting your friends over for cocktails, as there’s always a lot of tweaking of recipes to find the perfect balance. Even bartenders will consistently check and adjust their recipes to ensure consistency and balance are correct.”
Also: Diluting the ABV doesn’t mean simply adding more ice (or water). Dilute with flavor.
“Over-diluting or diluting with a neutral ingredient will cut the flavor, so you want to use those sparingly,” says O’Brien-Pniewski. “Make sure you dilute with something big and flavorful, like a fruit juice or puree—or, in our case, cold-brew coffee. You can always taste and adjust if it’s too intense a flavor.”
Comfort and Cocktails We Love
Normally I’m a “more is more” type of person—but when it comes to frozen cocktails, I stick to familiar flavors and comfort-style drinks that translate well to a frozen format.
Again, embracing liqueurs and flavored spirits is a perfect way to make flavorful frozen cocktails without reinventing the wheel. The frozen Irish coffee is a great example—the Irish coffee remains one of the world’s best-known cocktails, so translating it to a frozen format is a genius move. However, getting it right takes more than adding the typical ingredients to a blender with ice.
The Dead Rabbit’s frozen Irish coffee is wildly popular, but they don’t share with the public the recipe they serve at the bar. However, here’s an alternative and delicious version.
Frozen Irish Coffee
1 oz Irish whiskey
1 oz heavy cream
¼ oz coffee liqueur
¼ oz whole milk (or milk alternative)
½ oz cold-brew coffee
1½ cup ice
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until well combined. Serve in a frosty glass and garnish with fresh nutmeg.
Frozen Negroni
Adoration for the negroni has yet to wane for most people, so a frozen version for the summer months is a surefire hit. Plus, bitter liqueurs such as Campari are perfect for frozen cocktails—they’re lower in ABV, sweet, bitter, and viscous. The key to this version is orange juice, which upholds the sweetness and citrus flavors amid the icy dilution.
2 oz dry gin
2 oz Campari
½ cup orange juice
2 oz sweet vermouth
2 cup ice
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until well combined. Serve in a frosty glass and garnish with a fresh orange slice.
Courtesy Skrewball Whiskey
Peanut Colada
Another comfort flavor for many of us is peanut butter—and much to the excitement of enthusiasts, there are several peanut butter–flavored liqueurs and spirits available now.
It may seem daunting to figure out how to add such a rich flavor to cocktails without creating a drink that’s too sweet or completely dominated by that peanut flavor. Not surprisingly, the team at Skrewball developed a recipe that nails all the right flavors and is open to riffs—such as the addition of my Lemongrass-Ginger Syrup and a few drops of sesame oil.
2 oz Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
1 oz rum
¾ cup frozen pineapple
2 oz whole-fat unsweetened coconut milk
1 oz Lemongrass-Ginger Syrup (see below)
¾ oz lime juice
1 pinch salt
½ cup ice
5 drops sesame oil
In a blender, combine all the ingredients except the sesame oil and blend until well combined. Pour into a glass and garnish with the sesame oil. Optionally, add one pineapple slice with leaves, crushed peanuts, and an edible flower.
Lemongrass-Ginger Syrup
1 Tbs ginger paste
1 Tbs lemongrass paste
1 cup warm water
1 cup raw cane sugar
Combine ginger paste, lemongrass paste, and water in a pot. Over low to medium heat, stir until the pastes dissolve. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool, then refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 2–3 weeks.
More Icy Inventions
As you embark on your journey to create the perfect frozen cocktail, remember that experimentation is part of the fun.
Don’t be afraid to play with different ingredients and ratios to find what works best for your palate, keeping the pitfalls in mind. Reach for flavored syrups, liqueurs, and your favorite lower-ABV spirits to elevate your drink and make it uniquely yours.
Whether you’re lounging by the pool, partying like a rockstar, or simply looking to enjoy a warm evening on the porch, frozen drinks can contribute a refreshing twist. With these techniques and tips, you can create stunning beverages that not only keep you cool but also tantalize your taste buds.
Cheers to frosty summer sips! But watch out for that brain freeze!