lasting dominance in the stateside ice cream cocktail arena
July 5, 2018 9:44 AM   Subscribe

“One, you have a state that loves to drink. Wisconsin has a great thirst. Two, it’s America’s dairy land. If they can find a way to shove milk, cheese or ice cream into something else, they will do it. Third, the blender was invented there. It’s only natural that ice cream drinks are going to come out of that.” About Those Classic Ice Cream Cocktails: From a 1930s mix of "Chablis, gin and ice cream" to the Midwest’s beloved Pink Squirrel, a look at the evolution of the ice cream cocktail.
posted by everybody had matching towels (40 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Flashing back to those college choir party punchbowls of ginger ale, unidentified likker, and a big, floating blob of rainbow sherbet.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:12 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]


And then the tipsy fugue-diagramming.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:14 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


Oh god I remember the ginger ale and sherbet punch thing! I don't think I've thought about that in decades.
posted by tavella at 10:24 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Anyone recall the liquor milkshakes at Korova Milk Bar on the Lower East Side?
posted by griphus at 10:29 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


My mother makes a non-alcoholic sherbet punch at every opportunity. I guess she just really likes the stuff.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:30 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


I use Kahlúa as an ice cream topping. I don't know if that counts, but it's delicious!
posted by Harald74 at 10:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


My Aunt does a St. Patty's day drink consisting of Shamrock shakes and brandy, and she's from Wisconsin. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by Sphinx at 10:37 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


“Sometimes people don’t finish them,” says Dye, the owner of Bryant’s.

I like the idea of boozy ice cream a lot more than the gloppy, heavy reality. I feel like the "sometimes" might be doing a whole lot of work in that quote.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:06 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]


That said, the beertini article linked below this one is very much my jam. I've got a bunch of Yuenglings somebody left at my house after a party; now I know exactly what to do with them.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:14 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Bourbon and butter pecan ice cream; I miss eating dairy.
Mash up an Italian Ice, add bourbon or rum.
Freeze limeade with tequila. add the triple sec when serving.
My low-rent Hurricane is Hawaiian Punch & rum, and I am not above mashing up some Hawaiian Punch freeze pops and adding bourbon. I should really get some maraschino cherries.
Sadly, there's no Baskin-Robbins near me, but Daiquiri Ice and rum is hella tasty.

see also, Jello Shots, more, more It's hot & humid in Maine.
posted by theora55 at 11:15 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]


I just realized that I actually remember the last time I encountered ginger ale and sherbet punch: Halloween 1997. Last Halloween party in a social circle I was being pushed out of, before I moved across country and into a social group that didn't do punch. Well, there has been occasional sangria.
posted by tavella at 11:20 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I once had a beer float made with some variety of stout. (This was at a restaurant attached to some brewery or other.) I like stouts, and I like ice cream, but bringing the two together was not a great idea.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:24 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I use Kahlúa as an ice cream topping. I don't know if that counts, but it's delicious!

Green Chartreuse also works very well, as does St. George’s Spicy Pear liqueur. On French vanilla ice cream, duh.
posted by doubtfulpalace at 11:30 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


I just had a brief and disturbing mental image of some kind of alcoholic beet concoction topped with sour cream ice cream in some sort of borscht cocktail and I'm unhappy about it.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:41 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]


For me, it was the 1980s mid-summer Jägermeister milkshake birthday parties. Something about the combo of heat, booze, and ice cream brought out interesting sides of people.... my favorite memory from one of those parties was walking into the kitchen and seeing my ex-Hells Angel co-worker offering to read the palm of my old drag queen next door neighbor.
posted by Silvery Fish at 11:43 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


I have a recipe, given to me by a major general, of something along the lines of "Moose's Milk." It came from an old Air Force recipe book, but I think the only thing military about it is jokingly "serves 40, or 10 pilots." It's death by dairy, because it's eggnog and ice cream both (maybe also heavy cream?) and then a wide variety of brown liquors (Kahula, Rum, a few other things we only have in the cabinet for this...). We only make it once a year. It takes the rest of the year for us to recover. (I tried to google for our particular recipe and nothing exact is coming back... but there appear to be a variety of versions and military affiliations...)
posted by librarianamy at 12:19 PM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]


My mother makes a non-alcoholic sherbet punch at every opportunity.

Is your mother Linda Belcher?

Oooh, it's good!
posted by elsietheeel at 12:39 PM on July 5, 2018


Missing an important link to the definitive cautionary tale on the subject:
Girl Drink Drunk (Kids in the Hall)
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:45 PM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]


I use Kahlúa as an ice cream topping. I don't know if that counts, but it's delicious!

Green Chartreuse also works very well, as does St. George’s Spicy Pear liqueur. On French vanilla ice cream, duh


@Harald74, @doubtfulpalace -- Similarly, my Italian grandfather introduced me to limoncello as a delicious vanilla ice-cream topping!
posted by Greasy Eyed Gristle Man at 1:25 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


There's an ice cream place in San Francisco's Cole Valley called the Ice Cream bar that has a proper soda fountain in the back run by a soda jerk (official term) who makes incredible alcoholic milkshakes.
posted by simonw at 1:52 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I have a recipe, given to me by a major general, of something along the lines of "Moose's Milk."

I know the Kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,
And I can mix a cocktail that's remarkably Cremora-cal.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:01 PM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]


Red Robin has a Mango Moscato Wine Shake — "made with wine, vodka, mango puree and vanilla soft serve" that is pretty good. I believe the vodka is grape flavored.
posted by soelo at 2:02 PM on July 5, 2018


My family used to make a homemade version of Bailey's that had eggs, whipping cream, three or four kinds of booze in it, and some other things. I know it went away quickly at family reunions.

There was a non-ice-cream-but-still-cold beverage called "slush" which was an ice/alcohol slurry that got dumped into 7-Up and was quite good. But I don't know if I've ever known what was really in it.

At one point, the Bombay Cricket Club in Portland used to serve a series of melted-ice-cream-based drinks called "snake shakes" which were evidently very high-octane. They're gone now, but Tasty and Alder does have a boozy milkshake dessert menu.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:10 PM on July 5, 2018


Black & Tan was one of my favorite Ben & Jerry's flavors.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:10 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Just had another 90s flashback: Frozen Mudslides. Kahlua, vodka, and ice cream.
posted by tavella at 2:23 PM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


St. George’s Spicy Pear liqueur

1. I had no idea any such glorious thing existed.

2. It's probably a very good thing that I no longer drink.
posted by elsietheeel at 2:42 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Are ice cream cocktails inextricably linked with college for anyone else? I remember making ice-cream based Mudslides constantly, but after I graduated I started going way more spirits-forward with my drinks.
posted by phildini at 3:07 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Do they still make root beer schnapps? ‘Cause that stuff makes a dandy root beer float.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:09 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I was trying to think of a suitably creamy alcohol that could be combined with root beer ice cream for a reverse float but all of them are already flavored beyond anything like a cream soda.
posted by poffin boffin at 3:39 PM on July 5, 2018


Grad school roommate from Baton Rouge made bourbon milkshakes. I ended up straining out all the chocolate chips from mint chocolate chip ice cream so it could be mixed with bourbon. It was a memorable Thanksgiving.
posted by sciencegeek at 5:32 PM on July 5, 2018


Improved White Cargo Punch
(for the win)

1500 ml vanilla ice cream

750 ml Hendrick’s gin

150 ml Maraschino Luxardo

150 ml Lillet Blanc

Fresh ground nutmeg, for garnish

One hour before serving place ice cream, Hendrick’s, maraschino and Lillet into a punchbowl.
Fold ingredients and stir constantly.
Garnish each punch cup to be served with nutmeg dust.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 7:41 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I once had a beer float made with some variety of stout. (This was at a restaurant attached to some brewery or other.) I like stouts, and I like ice cream, but bringing the two together was not a great idea.

Once (but only once) I tried a "West Indian punch" at the Notting Hill Carnival... from memory, it comprised Export Guinness, fruit salad and evaporated milk. Grey and unappetizing, with bits floating in it, it looked like someone had thrown up into the bowl. Would not recommend.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 4:54 AM on July 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


Anyone up for a road trip?
posted by duffell at 6:17 AM on July 6, 2018


> duffell: "Anyone up for a road trip?"
Graeter's Ice Cream has the best chocolate chips of ever. The chocolate is not waxy, not hard, tastes like chocolate. Young’s Jersey Dairy, Yellow Springs, has exceptional ice cream made from their exceptional milk. Jersey cows produce milk that is tolerable by people who don't generally tolerate lactose, so I visit when I'm back in Ohio.
posted by theora55 at 6:59 AM on July 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm from Michigan where Boston Coolers are a thing, and I love gin bucks (basically a Moscow Mule with gin instead of vodka). So maybe that's what inspired me to make a Gin Buck Float...ginger beer and gin over lime sorbet. Maybe with a sprig of mint if I'm feeling fancy.
posted by Preserver at 7:51 AM on July 6, 2018


Once (but only once) I tried a "West Indian punch" at the Notting Hill Carnival... from memory, it comprised Export Guinness, fruit salad and evaporated milk.

this is offensive to rum and also to all of humanity.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:23 AM on July 6, 2018


Fond memories of my parents letting me have a tipple of creme de menthe over vanilla ice cream when I was younger. I loved the vivid green color and the slight buzz it produced.
posted by ElleElle at 11:07 AM on July 6, 2018


Oh you poor people who don't have Bailey's Ice Cream in your supermarkets
posted by daybeforetheday at 6:03 PM on July 6, 2018


Fond memories of my parents letting me have a tipple of creme de menthe over vanilla ice cream when I was younger. I loved the vivid green color and the slight buzz it produced.

We used to make creme de menthe sundaes in stemmed rocks glasses for the Lions Club dinners at the restaurant where I worked in high school/college. I never tried one, because I thought it would taste like a Shamrock Shake.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:00 PM on July 6, 2018




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