Nothing’s more refreshing than a cold drink on a hot day. When the temperatures rise, sometimes ice cubes aren’t enough—you need your whole drink to be frozen. From blended ice drinks to boozy milkshakes, we’ve collection our favorite frozen cocktails to keep you cool on hot afternoons and balmy summer nights.
The frozen margarita is a Tex-Mex classic perfect for warm weather. We like supplementing the classic tequila, lime juice, and triple sec combination with a little frozen limeade. Using the limeade makes it easy to scale to pitcher-size batches—who wants to waste their time at a party squeezing limes? For a colorful variation, infuse a bottle of of tequila with prickly pears and use both the liquor and the fruit in the drink.
Tropical tiki drinks are perfect for summer. The Blackberry Blast is a simple blackberry drink made with agricole rum, a spirit made from sugarcane. The Pineapple Express uses white and coconut rums with pineapple, lime juice, and a touch of cinnamon for warmth.
Milkshakes aren’t just for kids. Booze and ice cream make for a refreshing, indulgent treat. We have three grown-up milkshakes from the Greenwood Supper Club in Fish Creek, Wisconsin: the Grasshoper, Golden Cadillac, and Pink Squirrel. All three start with vanilla ice cream and chocolatey crème de cacao, then add minty crème de menthe, anise- and vanilla-tinged Galliano, and almond-flavored crème de noya, respectively.
Find all the boozy drinks you need to keep cool in our collection of frozen cocktail recipes.
Canned frozen limeade intensifies the citrus flavor of a slushy Mexican-inspired libation. Pair it with grapefruit and habanero skirt steak, Mexican pork spareribs, or any spicy dish.
This rose-hued variation on a grasshopper from The Greenwood Supper Club in Fish Creek, Wisconsin trades crème de menthe for almond-flavored crème de noya.
The Pink Baby
Sgroppino, a slushy combination of lemon sorbet, vodka, and prosecco, is common in Italy as a palate cleanser, a dessert, or a pre-dinner drink. We prefer this version by Marc Vetri’s beverage director Steve Wildy, where the ingredients are whisked together to create a chilly, frothy libation.
A poolside classic, this blended coconut cooler is heightened with a splash of aromatic bitters. Get the recipe for Frozen Piña Colada »
The prickly pear cactus thrives in the deserts of the American Southwest; its bulbous red fruit is prized for many Mexican and Tex-Mex preparations. This legendary margarita, which takes its distinctive flavor from the fruit, comes from bartender Ruben Bernal at Las Canarias restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. Get the recipe for Prickly Pear Margarita »
Punch Romaine, a rum-spiked shaved-ice palate cleanser served to first class passengers during the fateful last dinner aboard the Titanic on April 14th, 1912, was based on a recipe from famed French chef Georges Auguste Escoffier, who championed alcoholic shaved ices during the early twentieth century. The original recipe, essentially a granita, is updated here as a drinkable, citrusy cocktail poured over an iceberg of crushed ice.
