Learn How to Make Alcohol Infused Ice Pops. Directions show how to make grown-up “pop-tails”. Turn alcoholic beverages into portable frozen grown-up treats.
This tutorial on making is in response to requests for information on how we make them.
What is a Slushsicle?
We call some of them Slushsicles because our original recipe produces a spiked ice pop that has a consistency somewhere between a slushie and an ice pop. Others are more solid like an ice pop.
How to Make
Choose a Recipe
The first step – Choose whichever recipe it is you want to make into a spiked slushsicle or ice pop.
We have a few ready now and are always developing more. Check back often for new spiked slushsicle and ice pop recipes. Kid-friendly, alcohol-free version here.
The recipe cannot have a total alcohol volume higher than 8%.
That means if you are buying a beer at the grocery store in Oklahoma, Mississippi, or any other state with antiquated alcoholic beverage laws, the 3.2 beer you buy in a grocery store will freeze.
This also means that low point beer should not be stored in the freezer, it will explode.
If you want to design your own recipe you might need to do some math.
I am going to leave you some links from Newair, The Spruce, and How Stuff Works in case you want to design your own recipes and need to know about the properties of ethanol.
Utensils Used
Small plastic mixing bowl with a pour spout – This is not necessary, it just makes life a bit easier. I use a gravy ladle if this particular bowl is in use somewhere else.
A mini funnel – Larger ones will work too you will just have to be more mindful of the fill line on your ice pop sleeves. The mini has a short enough neck that is just as long as the fill line.
Ice pop sleeves – I use the Zipzicle brand. I have not experimented with other brands because I worry about alcohol leaching through.
Affiliate Links to the tools used are available at the end of the post.
Mix the chosen ingredients into your bowl. Anything using powdered drink mixes, extra sugars, or cream of coconut needs to be stirred very well to make sure all sugars are dissolved.
Taste Before Freezing
Taste your mix before you add it to the sleeves. Being mindful not to take too big of a taste. I rarely drink, so when I made 7 different slushsicle and ice pop recipes over two hours time, you know I was feeling it.
Filling and Freezing
If you are not happy with the colors, now is the time to add some food coloring. These pops will lighten considerably after freezing.
All of the pops in the photos are naturally colored with either liqueurs or juices. We did not add additional artificial coloring.
See the fill line? Stop just below or right at that line.
Overfilling will result in split tops and frozen zippers.
Avoid getting any liquid into the zip line. It will freeze and become difficult to open when it is time to eat.
If this happens, and it does, either give it a few minutes out of the freezer, run the zipper under some warm water, or simply cut off the top.
Once filled, place them into a tall cup.
Shorter cups will work, but they will be top-heavy and easily knocked over on the counter while you continue to add pop-tails or while in the freezer.
It is important to use cups that you won’t need for a day or so.
These will take at least 12 hours in the freezer before you can safely lay them on their sides without worrying about liquid leaking out the top.
They can be packed tighter into the cup than I have done in the photos, the ice pops will come out kind of flat though. I prefer mine to be rounded and fuller.
This one may give me some trouble when it is time to open and serve. As it freezes and expands, it is going to be very close to the zipper line.
Regardless, I will pop it in the freezer with the rest of them rather than trying to get some liquid out and risking getting liquid all caught up in the zipper.
I will just serve that one last after it has had a bit of time to thaw. It won’t take long.
You only have about as much time as a kid with a Fudgsicle, in August, in Oklahoma, while wearing a white shirt anyway.
From left to right are Blue Hawaiian, Pink Lemonade Margarita, Boozy Beachside, Spiked Cherry Limeade, Bahama Mama, Pina Colada, and Green-Eyed Monster.
You can call them spiked slushsicles, spiked ice pops, alcohol popsicles, whatever you would like, but once spilled in the freezer or on the countertops they’re call one big mess.
Other Flavor Suggestions for Spiked Slushsicles and Spiked Ice Pops
Original slushsicles include Jack Frost, which is very similar to Blue Hawaiian, and Cranberry Daiquiri.
Additionally, Daiquiri Ice can be used as an all-ages solid ice pop and could probably be used as an adult version by adding light or dark rum rather than rum extract.
Green-Eyed Monster lost much of its emerald green color during freezing as you can see from the photos.
If you want these to be brighter in color you can add food coloring.
You will have to experiment with this, as we have not added any in our test runs so we do not know how much to use.
You can see from the photo below that the ice pops are beginning to melt and you can see some color variation in a few of them.
The time out of the freezer was less than 15 minutes. They were handled minimally.
Links to Items Used
All of the following links are affiliate links.
Bowl with a pour spout, this is a newer version of the well-loved bowl in the photo.
Alternatively, a ladle with a spout can be used, or even a paper cup that you can squeeze. The pour bowl is best for my lazy style.
Cocktail Umbrellas, I used sharp kitchen scissors to remove the excess fan supports
If you have any questions about this process, please leave us a comment below and we will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability.
Keep checking back for new recipes to be added or join our mailing list to be notified anytime we add a new recipe.
Additionally, we would love to hear any ideas for adult ice pops you would like for us to try and figure out formulas for.
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Andrea
Great idea?
Beth
Hi Andrea!
Not sure if you that was meant to be a question mark or exclamation point, but we think it is a great idea! They are perfect for entertaining!