HOUGuide
The Best Frozen Drinks In Houston
photo credit: Richard Casteel
One great thing about living in Houston is frozen drinks are a refreshing option year-round—especially in the lean times (AKA summer). Whether you’re in the mood for a pound of rum and ice in a novelty cup, dainty wine and amaro cocktails, blue drinks with cute little umbrellas, snoballs smothered in booze and syrup, or electric-neon rum-bombs filled with mango and dynamite, our list can point in the direction of some of the best frozen drinks in town.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Chelsea Thomas
While EZ’S Liquor Lounge in The Heights may be known as more of a shot-and-beer pool bar, the cocktails, including the frozen drinks, are just as fun. Our favorite is the slurrrrricane (get it?) with a blend of rum, sherry, and fassionola strawberry and hibiscus syrup. A couple of these on the patio will most certainly cool down a humid evening. And unlike a lot of other frozen bevs, the slurrrrricane isn’t sticky-sweet, but fruity and a little herbal, so sipping on a few won’t give you a dreaded sugar headache, especially alongside a few of EZ’s crispy tacos or hotdogs.
What To Order: Slurrrrricane
photo credit: Zach Horst
With the frosé cocktail, Montrose Cheese & Wine basically took a quintessential aperol spritz to its logical and Houston-worthy conclusion: frozen rosé with a floater of cappelletti, smashed mint, and lemon zest. It’s fancy. It’s classy. It’s served in a cute little glass you feel dainty holding. The frosé won’t make you feel over-boozed. Instead it provides a soft buzz, which is perfect alongside a charcuterie board or a spicy salami sandwich.
What To Order: Frosé with a Cappelletti floater
photo credit: The Flat
The Flat in Montrose almost always has a DJ, dance music, or something happening that will make you sweat, regardless of the season. The best way to cool down and keep the party going is with one of The Flat’s most popular drinks: a frozen mojito. While the drink itself is nothing revolutionary–it’s just rum, lime, and mint–it feels refreshing, especially on the cramped dance floor. Plus, almost everyone else is drinking one, too.
What To Order: Frozen mojito
photo credit: Chelsea Thomas
Voodoo Queen Daiquiri Dive in the East End is exactly what it sounds like: a mostly frozen drinks dive bar with a bit of an attitude. There is no shortage of controlled chaos here. With eight frozen drink machines, you can try each drink as they come, or order any number of combinations, like a frozen swirl. We like the Tropical Depression, which is full of “rums” and passionfruit. And the Bikini Season (a swirl of the electric green Pakalolo Pipeline and Mango Larry with extra melon liqueur).
What To Order: Anything frozen (or a Caribbean Xanax if you are very brave)
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Considering it makes up half of the restaurant's name, it’s safe to say that the daiquiris at Sparkle’s Burgers And Daiquiris in Third Ward are nothing to mess around with. Served the way they’re supposed to be (in a novelty glass and loaded with rum), you have the choice of the fruit punch-flavored Southside vs. the blue raspberry-flavored Northside. While we’ll remain neutral about which side of Houston is better, in our opinion the Northside daiquiri is a little bit sweeter and the one to order.
What To Order: Northside daiquiri
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Summer or not, a good frozen drink is a treasure and nobody understands that like the folks at Winnie's, a Midtown Cajun-Creole bar. You’ll find four frozen options on the menu, and our favorite is the peach bourbon tea icee, which is essentially a frozen spiked sweet tea. But in truth, the best option is to order a frozen flight in a treasure chest, where you try all four of the frozens on the menu.
What To Order: Peach bourbon tea icee, treasure chest flight
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Sometimes bigger is better, and nothing proves that like the chile mangonada at Monkey’s Tail in Lindale Park. It comes in two sizes, but get the larger size because you'll want all the tajin and chamoy you can get on the rim. Plus, the sweet heat from the drink is perfect for sipping on the patio, and it may even inspire you to get up and dance to whatever the DJ is spinning.
What To Order: Large chile mangonada
photo credit: Grand Prize
The inside of the two-story Museum District spot Grand Prize Bar might be moody and mostly pitch-black, but it’s still home to one of our favorite silly little frozen drinks: a mangonada decorated with candied mango and mango chunks all in a cute little cactus glass. Have a mango moment at the bar, or take your drink to the rooftop and enjoy it while you fend off the Texas heat.
What To Order: Mangonada or any frozen drink
photo credit: Under The Volcano
Under The Volcano started serving frozen screwdrivers in 1989 and never looked back. The Dia De Los Muertos-themed bar is an institution in Rice Village, not only for its decades-old frozen drink, but also its Tex-Mex food, weekend brunch, Monday steak nights, and live music events every Wednesday. The screwdrivers are exactly as expected: a blend of fresh-squeezed orange juice and vodka served straight up and cold as hell. Sometimes simplicity is best.
What To Order: Frozen screwdriver
photo credit: Liz Silva
Tap into some sweet childhood memories at East End Hardware, then top those memories with booze. East End Hardware may not be the first bar to figure out that making shaved ice boozy was a great idea, but they are one of the only bars in Houston continuing to capitalize on summer nostalgia. Forget day drinking with a beer. Alternatively, get a cup full of shaved ice drenched in sno-cone sugar syrup and booze, like the classic Tiger’s Blood combo of coconut and cherry with vodka, or the Astros-themed Strocone with orange, strawberry, and rum.
What To Order: Any snowball cocktail
