Boozy Popsicles - Frozen Adult Beverages in a Tube
Boozy popsicles (otherwise known as alcoholic freezer pops) are popping up in my Facebook feed A LOT as summer approaches. How awesome does that sound? Can you say summer party hostess gift? Is anyone going to be not excited to greet someone who brings alcohol in popsicle format? I think not!
It was time to get making!
I’ve seen a lot of versions that are mostly rosé and prosecco variations. But where were the beer and cider versions? Since I had a fridge full of beer and cider - I decided to attempt making them as well as a lovely light prosecco mix.
For those of us who keep our hard liquor in the freezer for maximum coldness we know that it simply doesn’t freeze. So what mixture of liquor and non-liquor is required to get these things to freeze solid? I turned to the internet and found this little gem of an article. Her recommendation is that you simply keep the alcohol to 8% or less of the total mixture.
So it’s time to do some math! I love it when my fourth grader tells me she’ll never use her division and multiplication in “real life”. Psshhh - here’s a real life example!
Materials Needed
Full disclaimer here - the links below are my affiliate links. If you buy through them - it doesn’t cost you any more, but it shoots a little cheddar my way. Thanks!
- Beer/Wine/Liquor (sample recipes are below)
- Freezer Bags or Popsicle Molds
- Funnel
- Large Pyrex (for measuring and mixing)
- Calculator (if you need to crunch any numbers)
Here’s a shot of the bags I purchased via Amazon. I mistakenly thought they were the long freezer pop bags, but these little guys ended up being only 5 inches long! However, after using them, I actually think they’re pretty great. They make a little popsicle shot versus committing to one flavor that you may or may not like in the larger bag.
My best advice? Pick up both this size for samplers (5 inches long) and the larger size (8.75 inches long) for really cooling off. If you’re not into the little baggies - reusable molds are always handy too!
Let’s Do Some Math
I wanted to make limeade/prosecco pops. The prosecco I chose was 11% Alcohol by Volume (ABV). So I definitely needed to dilute the alcohol down a bit in order to get these pops to actually freeze. The dilution formula mentioned in the article above is really very easy.
The first thing I needed to figure out was the volume of my freezer bag. I filled a small measuring cup with water and poured it into one of the bags until the water reached to about 1 inch from the top. You’ll need that little bit of space when you freeze these because frozen liquid takes up more space than non-frozen liquid. I determined in a very non-scientific way that my 5 inch tall bags held about 2 oz (not including my empty space at the top). So I needed to account for 2 oz of total volume.
Now the magical formula:
C1V1 = C2V2
C stands for concentration and V stands for volume. What I knew so far was that V2 = 2 oz, C2 = 8% (the concentration I was shooting for) and my prosecco was 11% ABV (or concentration - C1).
(11%)(V1) = (8%)(2 oz)
(.11)(V1) = (.08)(2)
V1 = .16/.11
V1 = 1.45 oz
This told me that my prosecco could be approximately 1.45 oz of my pop with around .5 oz of limeade to give it a little flavor and to push it just to the ABV where it would actually freeze. It sounds a little silly because it’s already so close to the 8% ABV we’re looking for, but trust me - it won’t freeze without being diluted a bit (I tried!)
Of course, you can feel free to make the pop more of a half and half deal - but 1.45 oz is the maximum amount of prosecco you can add. Make sense?
Beer and Hard Cider Popsicles
Beer and hard cider drinks are easy because they’re less than 8% ABV right in the bottle. You have the choice of whether or not to add a little extra flavor. I think orange wheat beers go nicely with just a splash of orange juice and summer shandy beers go well with a little bit of lemonade. And you can’t go wrong with a Corona with a squeeze of lime juice.
Another great option is the alcoholic sodas that are so popular right now (hard root beer, cream soda, etc). To make the pretty pink popsicles below I used some Not Your Mom’s Strawberry Rhubarb. That stuff is sweet and yummy!
One thing I discovered is that beer that is very fizzy is pretty hard to pour into small plastic bags without getting fizzed out. I did the best I could, but ultimately ended up letting it settle before I sealed and froze those bags.
And here’s the completed product! They’re really cold and refreshing!
Recipe Ideas
I’ve written these recipes in “parts” rather than ounces so you can easily customize for whatever vehicle you choose to put this goodness in. To help make this as easy as possible - take the number of parts and add them up. That is your total “part count”. Let’s use the recipe below as our simple example. I need 4 parts total.
If my popsicle molds hold 8 oz each, each part needs 2 ounces (total volume/part count OR 8/4).
Prosecco part is 3 parts at 2 oz each or 6 oz total.
Limeade part is 1 part at 2 oz each or 2 oz total.
Make sense?
Lime-secco-sicles
3 parts Prosecco
1 part Limeade
Mandarin-wheat-OJ-sicles
3 parts mandarin wheat beer
1 part orange juice
Rum-and-coke-sicles
8 parts Coke
2 parts Rum
Margarita-sicles
8 parts Margarita mixer (non-alcoholic)
2 parts Tequila
The list goes on and on and on…these things are the BOMB! Pinterest is literally FULL of great ideas for these pops. This is why the internet is an amazing place. 🙂