Does Adding Ice Last For A Frozen Cocktail Make It Stay Cold Longer?

During those rough summer heatwaves, a drink cooled by ice cubes may not be enough — you need a frozen drink. Much like how a next-level frozen lemonade with fruit beats a regular lemonade with ice, a frozen cocktail with all its ingredients blended together with crushed ice will cool you down way more. We've ranked some frozen cocktails in the past, and a good Hemingway daiquiri or a piña colada can't be beaten.

Sometimes you'll hear different strategies about how to do this. In the past, I've been told that some bartenders like to chill and mix together the liquors and mixers first to create a good emulsion. This way, everything blends together cleanly to (allegedly) improve the drink's texture once you add in the ice. Does it actually work, though?

We spoke with Rodrigo Urraca, co-founder of Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City (which is in partnership with 1800 Tequila), as well as co-owner and bar manager Eric van Beek. According to them, it probably doesn't make a huge difference. "In theory, yes, blending your cocktail ingredients before adding ice can help create a more cohesive emulsion and chill the mixture ahead of time, which might give you a slightly smoother, more stable texture at first," they told The Takeout. "But once the ice is in, it's still going to melt at the same rate, especially in warm conditions."

As a mixologist, emulsion is useful to think about since it helps you understand how to keep ingredients evenly blended together without separating. There are fancy strategies for improving that emulsion, such as thickening agents like xanthan gum. But when we asked Urraca and van Beek, they insisted you really don't need to worry about emulsion too much with a frozen cocktail, though thickening agents can genuinely help. "Personally, I wouldn't go through the trouble of creating a dry-blend emulsion just for frozen cocktails," they said. "It's not usually necessary. That said, adding a small amount of xanthan or guar gum can help the drink stay cohesive and frosty for longer."

What is the ideal strategy for making frozen cocktails? Depends on what you're making. One method is to layer ingredients in the blender, starting with liquids at the bottom and adding ice on top. Measuring your ice probably matters more than what order you add the ingredients in. Too little ice won't get you the proper slushy consistency, while too much ice will quickly water down the flavor. In short, try not to overthink it. You're placing everything in a blender. If you want to challenge yourself, you can try making a summer cocktail using an ice cream maker, but you really don't need to put in that much effort for a good frozen cocktail. Their simplicity is part of their popularity.