Skip to main content

How To Transform 9 Classic Cocktails Into Frozen Drinks

Frozen cocktails can conjure up thoughts of candy-sweet abominations made solely for tourists. But the fact of the matter is that just about any good classic mixed drink can change its state from liquid to solid in the name of cold. Better still, they can do so without sacrificing quality, setting you up for a pleasant straw-sipper during the hottest months of the year.

About the only cocktails that can’t be served as slushies are the overtly boozy ones, as too much alcohol leads to the inability to freeze (that’s why your freezer vodka is still liquid). Most, however, involve enough other things that they handle the transition just fine. Some, one could easily argue on a hot afternoon, are even better than the original.

Related Videos

Here are nine to blend up and greet the sunshine with.

Frozen Margarita

Frozen Margarita

(By Yana Volfson, bar director, Cosme and ATLA, New York City)

In fairness, there are a lot of bad frozen margaritas on Planet Earth. Shoot, Las Vegas is famous for them. But with the right ratios and a good blanco tequila, the icy incarnation can do wonders. The best ones are impossibly cold and offer a playful texture that instantly puts the holder in a good mood. Even better, you’re unlikely to get a brain freeze as the alcohol will keep you sipping, not chugging. Here, Yana Volfson shows us how it’s done. Just don’t go overboard in terms of volume, as it’s easy for the recipe to get derailed. “The one-at-a-time or two-at-a-time hand build of this recipe upholds the character of aperitif and balance that can sometimes get lost in batched slushies,” Volfson says.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 ounces blanco tequila
  • .5 ounces Curaçao liqueur (Volfson uses Pierre Ferrand Curaçao)
  • .5 ounces agave nectar
  • 1 ounces lime juice
  • 5 ice cubes

Method:

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until creamy. Pour into a double-walled chilled glass (Volfson recommends Bodum glasses). Garnish with fresh lime zest.

Frozen Tom Collins

Refreshing Gin Tom Collins Cocktail with Lemon

Ah, the Tom Collins, a drink beloved for its many simple pleasures. Bartenders love how, like a good bass line or beat, this drink can be sampled in so many creative ways. When going frozen, it’s suggested to keep it nice and invigorating thanks to plenty of fresh lemon. This recipe from the Times serves a half dozen imbibers and is a worthy frozen sibling of the lauded Tom Collins.

Ingredients:

  • 8 ounces gin
  • 6 ounces fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 large lemons)
  • 4 ounces simple syrup
  • 5 to 6 cups cracked or crushed ice cubes
  •  Maraschino cherries and syrup for garnish

Method:

Combine the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in an airtight container. Seal and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours. Transfer the chilled mixture to the blender, add the ice and blend until smooth and slushy. Divide the mixture among six glasses; garnish each with a few cherries and a drizzle of cherry syrup. Serve immediately, and store any extras in the freezer in a covered container until ready to enjoy.

Frozen Old Fashioned

(By Megan Deschaine, bartender, Doar Bros., Charleston, South Carolina)

There may be no drink more classic than the Old Fashioned. It’s been popular since Chester Arthur was president and does particularly well as a frozen drink due to the balancing act of simple syrup and ice. Plus, it takes on a cool color as bourbon and ice dance together in the blender. As Megan Deschaine says, you’d be wise not to water this drink down. “One of the biggest mistakes with making blended drinks is overdilution. Instead of using traditional ice, consider making your own by freezing one of the nonalcoholic ingredients from the recipe to use as the ice.”

Ingredients:

  • 6 parts bourbon (Deschaine prefers Angel’s Envy)
  • 1 part “Good Old Fashioned” simple syrup*
  • Orange-juice ice cubes, to taste (for best results, use more of these than of the regular ice cubes)
  • Regular ice cubes, to taste
  • Angostura bitters, for garnish

*”Good Old Fashioned” Simple Syrup: Add 1.5 cups water, 1 cup Demerara sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 star anise pods, 6 cloves, 10 black pepper pods, and the zest of 2 oranges to a saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Steep for 20 minutes. Allow the syrup to fully cool, then strain away the liquid and discard the solids. The syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Method:

Add ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a chilled glass and garnish with Angostura bitters and a twist of orange.

Frozen Caiprinha

Go straight to Brazil with this frigid classic. In fact, go straight to Rio on a scorching afternoon, soccer ball, and sunblock in hand. Essentially a South American daiquiri, the caiprinha is a storied standby for the thirsty, especially south of the equator. This BBC recipe gives the drink the proper midsummer treatment. As is advised, it’s nearly impossible to overdo it with the limes, so add extra to taste.

Ingredients:

  • 2 limes, halved
  • 6 tablespoon golden granulated sugar
  • 1.75 cups ice
  • 7 ounces cachaça

Method:

Cut each of the lime halves into four chunks. Put in a large mortar with the sugar and squish well with a pestle to break them down — they will release their juices, leaving you with a sweet lime syrup. Remove the lime peel, squeeze to release the last bits of juice, and then discard. Transfer the lime syrup to a small plastic container and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. When you’re ready to make the cocktail, put the ice in a blender suitable for crushing ice, then add the frozen syrup and cachaça. Blend at a high speed until smooth and thick. Transfer to cocktail glasses or tumblers and serve immediately.

Fro-Groni

(By Nick Touch, brand ambassador, The Family Jones, Denver, Colorado)

Long live the Negroni, whether it’s the standard version, its popular white vermouth cousin, or even a Togroni. It’s hard to find a better use for Campari, and that’s saying something, as the neon red liqueur is as versatile as they come. And while it’s technically a three-ingredient classic cocktail, when going the frozen route, you’d be wise to add a few things. This riff from bartender Nick Touch is based on a breakfast version, perfect to kick off a transatlantic flight to Italy. It incorporates fresh citrus and a touch of simply syrup to take on the ice. It’s a weekender of a drink fit for any hour of the day, really.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ounces gin (Touch prefers The Family Jones Juniper Jones Gin)
  • 1 ounces sweet vermouth (Touch prefers Carpano Antica)
  • 1 ounces Campari 
  • 1 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1 ounces simple syrup
  • .5 ounces fresh lemon juice

Method:

Add all ingredients to a blender with ice and blend until smooth. Pour into a chilled glass and garnish with a grapefruit wedge and a lemon wheel.

Frozen Greyhound

What’s better than matching gin with tonic? Treating it to the one-of-a-kind citrus punch of grapefruit. Greyhound cocktail lovers know as much, and the drink, with its tidy balance of sour, sweet, and herbal, can hold on to all of those things even frozen. This Thrillist recipe is likely to become a mainstay at your home bar as summer unfolds.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup gin
  • 2 cups grapefruit juice
  • .5 cup simple syrup
  • 3 cups ice
  • grapefruit zest

Method:

Add gin, grapefruit juice, and simple syrup to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and garnish with grapefruit zest.

Frozen Aperol Spritz

(By Demi Natoli, bar manager/assistant beverage director, Graduate Hotel, Nashville)

Simply put, Italians do it better. Here’s another adaptation of an Old World classic that takes an already refreshing drink and makes it even more so. The interplay of effervescent wine and ice is incredibly pleasing, something akin to your palate cannonballing into a sparkling hotel pool. If the bodegas in Rome don’t already serve this from a Slurpee-like soda fountain, they should.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 ounces Aperol 
  • .5 ounces gin (Natoli uses Ford’s Gin)
  • 3 ounces Prosecco or Champagne 
  • .5 ounces lemon juice
  • .5 ounces orange juice 
  • 1 ounces vanilla syrup 
  • 2.5 cups crushed ice 

Method:

Pour 1 ounce of sparkling wine and .5 ounce Aperol into a Collins glass. Add the remaining ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour blended mixture into the Collins glass and garnish with an orange wheel.

Frozen Cosmopolitan

The Cosmo is a great drink boasting tons of brilliant cranberry color. Utilize its inherent inkiness by going frozen. The result is an easy-on-the-eyes and incredibly soothing beverage that may just best its liquid cousin. Some opt for Triple Sec instead of simple syrup here, but with the pucker added from lime and pomegranate, we prefer standard simple syrup. Do experiment with this one, throwing in tasty add-ons like orgeat, frozen berries, or even fresh rosemary.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces cranberry juice
  • .5 ounces fresh lime juice
  • 1.5 ounces citrus flavored vodka
  • .5 ounces simple syrup
  • 5 ice cubes
  • lime wedge for garnish

Method:

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Frozen Moscow Mule

The Moscow Mule, with its customary icy copper mug, is so close to a frozen cocktail in its original state that this recipe simply nudges it along. Instead of sipping around ice, you get to swallow a steady stream of perfectly smooth, slushie-like goodness. The new consistency is enough to reinvigorate a drink that can feel a little played out in its basic form.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups ice
  • 2 cups ginger beer
  • 2 ounces vodka
  • 1 ounces lime juice

Method:

Put ice in blender then add ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice. Blend until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Editors' Recommendations

The Borg drink is a viral Gen-Z favorite that’s really not all that new
Sorry, kiddos. "Borg" has been around for a while. We just call it something else.
borg drink recipe

Every new generation thinks they've invented the wheel when it comes to anything trendy. We're sorry to say, Gen-Z, but "flared leggings" are called yoga pants, most of us were using flip phones before you were born, and don't even think about talking to us about pop punk unless you know who Billie Joe Armstrong is.
When it comes to drinks, most generations have a hallmark party beverage that defines their college years, holding the power to flood them with a rush of nausea and fuzzy memories even decades later. For Gen-Z, that drink is called "Borg." What they haven't realized yet, though, is that this falsely fruity concoction has been around for years under the name "Jungle Juice."
While Jungle Juice was originally invented by U.S. soldiers during the Second World War, it was Millenials who made it the truly trashy, hangover-inducing party swill it is. Most stereotypically mixed in a large bucket or something else that can be found in a dorm garage, Jungle Juice is a mixture of vodka and a cheap, fruity mixer such as Kool-Aid. Naturally, there aren't any hard and fast recipe rules, but that's the usual gist of Jungle Juice.
The Gen-Z twist, Borg, does have some clever upgrades, and for that, we give them due credit. Firstly, the rather gross-sounding name is actually a witty acronym for "Black Out Rage Gallon." We love that there's no beating around the bush with this generation. They know how to call a spade a spade. Second, unlike the communal trough that's used to dole out Jungle Juice, Borg is made and served in individual plastic jugs, cutting down on germ spread. We can appreciate that growing up in the days of COVID has made for some much healthier thinking. We also love that Borg can be capped, making it much more difficult for potential predators to tamper with a drink.
Of course, the optional addition of new ingredients like Liquid IV also help to curb the hangover that will undoubtedly come with drinking vodka from a plastic jug. That sure would have been nice back in the day.

Borg drink recipe

Read more
Is erythritol harmful? What a dietitian says new data means for your Keto diet
Erythritol is common in many keto foods - what does that mean for your health?
erythritol in keto diet advice

While sugar substitutes have been around for more than a century, they didn't really become mainstream here in the United States until around the mid-70s. According to Carolyn De La Pena, professor of American Studies at UC Davis and author of Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda, between 1975 and 1984, Americans increased their consumption of artificial sweeteners by 150 percent. This timeline makes sense when you take into account that the late seventies coincided with the start of our crazed diet culture and the revolving door of fad diets.
One such diet that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, however, is the Keto diet. Still hugely popular among Americans trying to shed a few pounds, Keto focuses heavily on limited or no carbohydrates. Because sugar contains carbohydrates, followers of Keto have turned to artificial sweeteners to satisfy those late-night cravings - sweeteners that, more often than not, contain erythritol. Erythritol in particular has become hugely popular because it's much better for baking than other sugar substitutes, has less of an artificial flavor, and will keep the eater in Ketosis, which is key for losing weight on the Keto diet.
A new study has made waves recently because its findings indicate there's a link between erythritol and higher rates of heart attack and stroke (though the study did note that only an association was found — not causation. So should you be worried?
We asked Dan LeMoine, RD, the award-winning author of Fear No Food and the Clinical Director at Phoenix-based Re:vitalize Nutrition, what he had to say about erythritol, including its benefits and potential health risks. "Artificial sweeteners are still sweeteners. While many are non-nutritive or zero-calorie, we tend to view them similarly as we do regular sweeteners or sugars — moderation is key. While many have amazing implications on weight loss – being low to no-calorie options and having little impact on blood sugar, some have their downside," he says.

While some of that sugar substitution has been good for waistlines and health issues that come from obesity, it seems to be causing more and more concern when it comes to other potential health issues. "For example," says LeMoine, "some research indicates the popular sweeteners stevia may have negative effects on the gut microbiome. And the recent study showing correlation between the sugar alcohol, erythritol, and heart attack and stroke."

Read more
Feeling adventurous? 5 of the weirdest cocktails from around the globe
Would you order a cocktail with a pickled human toe? You can in Canada, apparently
unusual and unique cocktails sourtoe cocktail

We all love a good cocktail, but it's easy to tire of the classics. There's nothing wrong with a perfectly frosty, salted-rimmed margarita, or a warm-to-your-bones, cherry-topped old-fashioned, but sometimes, you just want something new. Something that makes you think. Something that, perhaps, gives you a chuckle. These are those cocktails.
Pig's Blood Piña Colada (USA)

Back in 2014, bartender Jason Brown of Chicago's Kinmont restaurant and bar, concocted this cocktail after listening to a Werewolves of London lyric about a werewolf drinking a pina colada. His creativity sparked, and the "Werewolves of London" cocktail was born.

Read more