The Genius Tip For Making A Frozen Negroni That Isn't Watered Down

When it comes to making cocktails, ice is sneakily the most essential component in terms of both taste and technique. Too little ice, whether shaken or stirred, and your cocktail might be unpalatably strong. Too much, or the wrong size or serving, and your concoction will taste more like disappointingly flavored water. This is especially true when mixing up warm weather's favorite companion, the frozen Negroni.

A Negroni, made with gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari, is typically served over one large, square ice cube that melts slowly as you leisurely sip from your glass. Before the ice has a chance to melt too much from the heat of your hand, you're likely already done with your drink. But what about a frozen Negroni that you want to keep consistently cold? The trick is actually simple: Mix up your batch of cocktails at least one day in advance and store the mixture in the freezer. When you're ready to serve up your stiff, slushy drink, your Negroni brew will be very cold but not frozen (thanks to all that alcohol).

To create that slushy consistency, you'll still need to blitz the mixture with ice in the blender, but only for about 30 seconds or so. Usually, your cold drinks will start to melt from the heat of the whirring mechanism, even with all that ice. But when your ingredients are super cold to start with, you don't have to worry about the blender watering them down.

Frozen Negronis are perfect if you love an icy drink but not the sweet flavors that usually accompany anything in slushy form. But the technique of freezing your concoction first before blending can apply to any cocktail mixture in which dilution is unwelcome. Blended frozen margaritas, frozen daiquiris (which we have tips for here), and frozen vodka lemonades, among others, can all benefit from time spent in the freezer — at least up to three days. As a note, we know how much you probably love a frozen rosé, but wine has a higher freezing point than hard alcohol, so we'd recommend keeping it out of the freezer to prevent the wrong kind of wine slush.

A few other pro tips for your frozen cocktails: You might want to use slightly less alcohol or, if your cocktail recipe calls for it, proportionally more of the non-alcoholic ingredients to lower your drink's overall ABV. With less alcohol by volume, your mixture will be closer to frozen before you blend it with ice. As a final step, go ahead and chill your serving glasses as well. A cold glass will keep your frozen drinks colder for longer (and feel marvelously refreshing in your hand on a hot day).