The Best Summer Cocktail is Frozen Solid: How to make Poptails
It’s August, aka the dog days of summer. If you’re like me, you’re mainlining ice cream until 5pm when it’s acceptable to add 20 ice cubes to your favorite mixed drink. Now, roll the glass gently along your forehead… aah. But wait! There’s a much easier (and more delicious) way to spice up your happy hour or enliven your socially-distant backyard hang: poptails. That’s right, a popsicle that’s also a cocktail: dreamy, ice-cold booze-on-a-stick. Here’s how:
First, you’ll need to buy a popsicle mold. Most big box stores will have these and they’re relatively inexpensive ($10 or so). Next, you need your ingredients. There are a ton of recipes online, but here are my favorites: French 75 (gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and sparkling wine), Cosmo (cranberry juice, vodka, lime juice, and triple sec) or any mixed drink (screwdriver, cucumber gin and tonic, etc.)
A tip: Flavored liquors work really well in this format, which means you finally have a reason to use that weird strawberries and cream vodka your cousin gave you as a gag gift.
You’ll need to be a bit careful with your ratios, because hard liquor has a tendency to stay liquid, but being lower in alcohol just means you get to have more of them: a definite win-win. Freeze overnight for best results, and keep a stash of your newest fave frozen friends on hand for emergencies! (read: days above 80 degrees and ending in ‘y’).
