What Kind Of Booze Is Best For Ice Cream Cocktails?

There's a reason classic cocktails gained such popularity during the 20th century; if you're drinking, it's much more fun to enjoy drinks that taste good rather than using an old-fashioned rotgut like moonshine. And one of the most fun ways to have a cocktail is by using ice cream. Cream-based mixed drinks may sometimes come in on the heavy side, but there's no denying that they're tasty. 

But what type of booze should you use for them? Ultimately, the correct kind of booze for any particular ice cream cocktail will vary depending on what you're going for. Most types of alcohol are going to work for various drinks — although there are a few varieties within those types that just don't work at all. In particular, a few very good choices include liqueurs, vodka, and bourbon. Really, it's all down to the pairings you put together and knowing which flavors play nice with one another.

In general, liqueurs are usually an ideal bet when you're going for an ice cream cocktail. Something like Kahlua is an excellent bet if your drink is coffee-flavored — as in a mudslide. Creme de menthe and creme de cacao are crucial ingredients in the old-fashioned grasshopper, a cocktail once so popular it resulted in the birth of a pie version. Liqueurs are made to taste like a specific thing anyway, so as long as you play to that, it will go well.

But that's not the only option; another surprisingly good alcohol for your ice cream cocktails is vodka. Straight vodka may burn on the way down, but a creamy cocktail soothes this, and the great thing about vodka is it tends to take on the flavor of whatever you pair it with. As long as you balance it, vodka is usually a good choice.

If you'd like to invent your own ice cream cocktail, there's one booze in particular that has surprising versatility here: bourbon. There's a reason you're seeing a variety of bourbon in ice cream flavors: it's a strong enough flavor to make itself known while also marrying well with the richness of a good ice cream. This is particularly true if you combine bourbon with brown sugar, a classic combo that goes great in desserts (not to mention other drinks).

A key point is that there are a few types of alcohol that can theoretically be used in an ice cream cocktail, but you have to be careful with how you do it. Making ice cream from beer or wine is possible, but both are a bit trickier to work with. It also depends on which type of beer or wine you use; a sweet white wine like a Riesling (or even a sweet red like a Lambrusco) is going to go a whole lot better in drink form than the earthy pop of a merlot or a cabernet sauvignon.

Beer-flavored ice cream cocktails will do better if you marry the flavor profile with the ice cream itself — meaning Hefeweizen with something citrusy or a porter or stout with something chocolate-based. One type of beer you absolutely want to avoid in any ice cream cocktail is an IPA. The bitterness just doesn't marry well with any ice cream flavor and is pretty much guaranteed to overwhelm whatever you put it with.

Much like other alcohols, it's about knowing which flavors play well together and which don't. You may think you want a pineapple-and-porter cocktail, but it will probably be a disaster.