Summer cocktails can never be too coldβespecially if youβre sipping al fresco. Drinks served up or on the rocks rarely stay chilled enough, even if you drink quickly, but there is one way to avoid warm and watery drinks: Blend them into submission. No matter how hot and sticky it is outside, the weather is no match for an expertly blended cocktail.
Weβre not talking about your average, sticky-sweet frozen Daiquiri or Margarita. Thereβs a new class of boozy blended drinks that deserve your attentionβand theyβre oddly familiar.
βI love frozen drinks and they tend to be the forgotten child in the cocktail renaissance,β says Jerry Nevins, cofounder of Kansas Cityβs Snow & Co, where slushy-fied classic cocktails take center stage. βIf you say βfrozen drinksβ you can immediately see people turn up their noses and roll their eyes at the thought of drinking one.β
In his new book Sloshies, published in June 2017, Nevins takes on the task of sharing what heβs learned at Snow & Co so anyone can make respectable frozen drinks at home. βWe wanted to elevate frozen cocktails from the world of cheap booze you get on Bourbon Street to a respectable choice of drink style where the classicsβand some new additionsβcould be reworked in frozen form.β
Luckily, Nevins isnβt the only one who sees the benefits of thoughtfully blended booze. Bartenders across the U.S. have also gotten in on the trend. Here, four recipes that will help you turn your favorite classics into slushy masterpieces. Bring on the brain freeze.
The Painkiller is a staple across the Virgin Islands for a reason: The medley of coconut, pineapple and orange juices and rum is the perfect companion to an endless summer. The only way to make the tropical concoction even more suited to warm weather relaxation is to throw it in a blenderβso thatβs exactly what Kevin Beary and Julian Cox of Chicagoβs Three Dots and a Dash did, with a couple of adjustments and additions, namely the fragrant and savory pandan leaf.
βThe Pandan Painkiller works well as a frozen cocktail due to a favorable proportion of rum to juice and syrup,β says Beary, Beverage Director of Three Dots and a Dash, who uses a hefty blend of golden and black rums as the base of the drink. βThe cocktail has strong notes of pandan and coconut, and the bold blend of rums hold up well to the dilution of the crushed ice when blending.β This complex variationβwhich also includes tangerine juice in place of OJβmight be a little stronger than your average Painkiller, but it will put you on the path to blissful summer drinking in no time.
The Essentials
The Essentials
The Essentials
The Essentials
The Essentials
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