Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge's Slushy Bubbles cocktail.
Photo: TAO Group HospitalityCall it the summer of slush.
New York City’s restaurants and bars are embracing frozen cocktails like never before, offering all manner of the chilly concoctions, say industry professionals. The boom has gone beyond the classic and newer favorites, such as the frozen margarita or the wine-based frosé drink, to include more innovative, icy combinations of alcohol and mixers.
And drinking spots that never previously served frozen drinks, including craft cocktail bars that typically shunned the slushy and often overly sweet offerings, are joining the bandwagon.
“It’s survival,” said Sother Teague, beverage director of Amor y Amargo, a craft bar in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood. Mr. Teague has borrowed a frozen-drink machine from another bar and is rolling out a slushy, strawberry-flavored version of the Negroni, a classic Italian cocktail.
Restaurant and bar owners say that because of the financial challenges they are facing during the coronavirus pandemic, they must aim to appeal to as broad a public as possible with their drink offerings.
Plus, the frozen sips are perfect for enjoying al fresco. And given that restaurants and bars in New York City are currently limited to outdoor service, that makes them a logical choice to highlight, said Adam Levy, a New Jersey-based wine-and-spirits professional who is founder of the Alcohol Professor website. New York also temporarily eased its liquor rules to allow for the sale of to-go cocktails.
“You want a nice, accessible cocktail in the heat,” Mr. Levy said.
Not that some bars aren’t still getting creative, playing to New Yorkers’ palate for things that are new and different while also delivering that frosty refreshment.
Frozen Lemon Sake at Katana Kitten.
Photo: Hannah BrombergAt Katana Kitten, a Japanese-centric craft bar in Manhattan’s West Village, Frozen Lemon Sake is the star of the summer menu. And at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge at the Moxy Times Square hotel, the sip being promoted is the Slushy Bubbles, a grown-up version of a snow cone made with citrus-flavored vodka, the Italian aperitif Aperol, and Prosecco.
“People are looking for that elevated experience and not just the frozen margarita,” said Matt Strauss, managing partner of Tao Group, the global hospitality company behind Magic Hour.
At the same time, frozen margaritas and other icy classics continue to appeal, particularly versions made using frozen-drink (or slush) machines. Bars and restaurants often embrace the commercial-grade machines, which range in price from about $1,000 to $6,000, because they allow them to prepare a large amount of drinks at one time that can be sent out to customers on a moment’s notice.
“All it takes to serve is a pull of the lever,” said Will Wyatt, owner and beverage director of Mister Paradise, an East Village craft bar that plans to offer a variation on a frozen piña colada this summer.
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Bartender Tairon Florian prepares a Frozen Aperol Spritz at The Jeffrey NYC.
Photo: The Jeffrey NYCUltimately, that means the machines can save on labor costs, which is an important consideration for establishments during this belt-tightening time, notwithstanding the initial investment.
Then again, that is presuming a bar or restaurant owner can find a machine to buy (or borrow). With the boom in frozen drinks this summer, some are saying they have to scour for one.
It is a point affirmed by Helena Tubis, a vice president of sales and marketing for Brooklyn-based Kelvin Slush Co., a company that makes organic mixers for frozen drinks and sells commercial-grade machines for preparing them. She says that demand for the machines has grown so much, there is about a four-week wait to acquire one.
Ms. Tubis also has a different theory as to why frozen drinks are proving popular this summer, saying that, even in their alcoholic form, they take us back to the icy, convenience-store beverages (as in the 7-Eleven Slurpee) of our youth. And it may be just what we need to survive this difficult time.
“There is this nostalgia,” she said.
Write to Charles Passy at cpassy@wsj.com
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