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Thank you Yahoo! for sponsoring this post. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Yahoo!, all content, opinions, and TOTAL FAILS expressed here are my own.
I had no idea that “poptails” were a thing until I read “Because Cocktails in a Cup Are So Last Year: Poptails Are the Next Big Thing.” (Be warned: There’s an auto-start video!)
Yeah, they’re basically frozen cocktails. So I decided to try to make my own. It went about as well as you can expect a “Megan project involving the kitchen” to go…
I saw that the original post had recipe suggestions, but… have I told you about my mom’s custom cocktail? She calls it the “Lala Lemonade” and it’s DELICIOUS. (For proof, just ask any of the Empire staffers who went on our offbeat retreat to my mom’s house in Maui.) It’s basically blueberry vodka, lemonade, and frozen blueberries. I figured since I had all the ingredients already, that it would make for a Megan-simple poptail recipe.
The only ice mold thingy that I had was the King Cube ice tray — usually used for whiskey drinking purposes. But I figured they’d be perfect to make frozen cockatails.
But… I only had one popsicle stick. So I cut that in half and MacGyver-ed a way to keep them from sinking down too far.
Aaaaaaaand then, after two days (yeah it took me that long) I remembered that vodka doesn’t freaking freeze! So I ended up with cocktail slushies. They were not good.
SO! To see the recipes for poptails that will actually work — I’m talking delicious freeze-friendly flavors like Mojito and Raspberry Greyhound poptails — Head over to Yahoo! (Once again, watch out for the auto-start video.)
Okay, Homies… what would you put in your poptails?
Megan you are hilarious!
The best and super simple one I love to do is frozen Baileys.. although I’m not sure it counts as a cocktail if it only has one ingredient. Also frozen Amarula, if you can get it. Divine! Or either of those poured over vanilla icecream..
Excuse me, I’m off to the supermarket!
Oh my god, frozen Amarula would be amaaaaazing. If you want it to actual be a multi-ingredient thing, why not try frozen springboks? It’s a two-layered shot made with creme de menthe on the bottom and amarula on top. It is the perfect drink. But I think you really need the two mixing in your mouth to get the full effect (the amarula cuts the intensity of the creme the menthe), so you could sacrifice the beauty of a layered popsicle in favor of a delicious one and just mix the two before freezing.
My favourite summer drink is Baileys slushies…it’s just Baileys blended with ice but it is so damn good.
Ooh, that DOES sound good. And wouldn’t you know… I totally HAD Baileys. Damn.
Oh god I am craving a mojito poptail now. Which is inconvenient because I’m pregnant. (yeah yeah, virgin cocktails exist – but they’re not the same :P).
Wouldn’t a virgin poptail just be a popsicle anyway?
Oh god do virgin cocktails suck! I’m almost 4 month preggers and went out with friends to a fancy restaurant with specialty drinks. They kept trying to get me a virgin whatever but, seriously? you want me to pay $12 for some juice and club soda with ice? No thanks. I cant WAIT to have me a good ol margarita on the rocks with too much tequila..
OK, I don’t like alcohol so maybe I’m missing something, but if vodka doesn’t freeze (and I assumed most hard alcohols don’t freeze, but I could be wrong) how come the cocktails on the Yahoo website do? Is it just a matter of the ratio of alcohol to things that do freeze?
I also don’t like alcohol, but from more of a chemistry perspective (and I’m not a great chemist, either, so maybe I’m making stuff up), I believe that it would be the concentration of alcohol and other things that freeze at lower temperatures than water that would determine whether the solution would freeze. Basically, water freezes around 0ºC (32ºF), and freezers are somewhat colder than that (-18ºC/0ºF or colder, according to the internets), but not nearly so cold as the freezing point of alcohol (pure ethanol freezes at -114ºC/-173ºF — in other words, frikkin’ cold; you can use it as antifreeze). Sugar solutions also freeze at lower temperatures than pure water. You don’t want a pure water popsicle, not only ’cause it wouldn’t taste like much, but also because you want something a little softer — a little less frozen. So adding some sugar/alcohol/other impurities that make the substance freeze less fully at freezer-temperature is a good thing — but if you add too much other stuff that lowers the freezing point, then you’re going to end up with slush or liquid.
Yep. It’s the same with Jello shots. If you put too much alcohol in ’em, they don’t firm up. It’s all about dat ratio.