I have long loved the Brandy Alexander and Grasshopper as ice cream dessert drinks. While these dessert drinks aren’t something you would have often or in quantity, they are an amazing taste experience for the correct moment and offer the opportunity for many creative riffs on a theme.

I did this Averna Ice for dessert at an English Gin sponsored cocktail dinner at SEPIA in Chicago two years ago with Lynn House. It was a hit!!

Drinks like these are usually made in a blender and more than one at a time. I will give the recipe for 1, so do the math for multiple drinks.

You want them to be smooth and frosty like a shake. Not runny and drippy…it is a trick to not over dilute the ice cream and to keep things frozen..and the trick is to keep things cold..

Averna is an amaro, but it is sweet like a liqueur so it works well in this drink. The gin adds some botanicals and a little more punch that work perfectly with the Averna and the ice cream.

1 oz Plymouth Gin
2 oz AVERNA
8 oz Quality Vanilla Ice Cream

Mix the spirits together and put in the freezer until chilled. With this drink you don’t want to chill your spirits with ice because you don’t want any water dilution.

In a blender add the ice cream and then the chilled spirits. Blend and serve in the appropriate chilled glassware. You can shave some chocolate or grate some cinnamon or nutmeg on top. Serve with a long spoon and or wide straw.

Other riffs…

STINGER ICE

1.5 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre
1.5 oz Marie Brizard White Creme de Menthe or Giffard Menthe Pastille
8 oz Vanilla Ice Cream

Chill Spirits in Freezer


SNOW SHOE

1.5 oz Bourbon Whiskey
1.5 oz Marie Brizard White Creme de Menthe or Giffard Menthe Pastille
8 oz Ice Cream

Chill Spirits in freezer

Add a good chocolate liqueur (Mozart) to either of these…Chocolate goes with mint and whiskey and cognac…hmm hmm


FERNET MINT ICE

1 oz White Creme de Cacao
1 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz White Creme de Menthe (Marie Brizard or Menthe Pastille)
8 oz Vanilla Ice Cream