Move Over Boozy Pops: This is Our New Favorite Summer Cocktail

Meet pop-tails, the unofficial summer mascot of, "It's five o'clock somewhere."

Lately, it feels like boozy ice pops have been popping up (sorry) everywhere (here, here, and here, to name a few), and while we love the idea of alcohol in a nostalgic treat, there was only one problem: We didn't have any. The trouble with boozy pops is that they take planning, and the amount of time between "I'd love a boozy pop" and removing a perfectly frozen ice pop from the refrigerator can feel like an eternity. So we thought, what would happen if we put non-boozy ice pops straight into a cocktail? 

We'd heard talk of bars that serve ice pops in prosecco, so we decided to create some of our own—and the results were better than we could have hoped for, for several reasons:

1. They're incredibly easy to make: Just place an ice pop into a glass and pour your alcohol of choice over it (no ice, added sugar, or muddling needed—the pop handles that!).
2. They're easily personalizable: An assorted box of ice pops means each person gets to choose their own flavor—and easily switch it out for round two. Plus, the ice pops take about 15 minutes to melt fully, which gives you enough time to remove the ice pop once you have enough flavor or sweetness. 
3. They're great for parties: Tell one friend to bring a box of assorted ice pops, ask another to bring alcohol, and you have an instant build-your-own cocktail bar.
4. They're not just for boozy drinks. Put a cherry ice pop into cola, a lime one a glass of seltzer water, or a fudge pop into a glass of milk for a new non-alcoholic treat

Once we'd experimented with flavors and settled on a few winning concoctions (because why have a test kitchen if not for experimenting with ice pop cocktails at 9 in the morning?), we had to come up with a name. Here are just a few of the suggestions that floated around the company chat room: coldflavorsicle, ice-pep, gloriosity stick, lick-euer, freezeithing, and pop-tail. We're not sure which one will stick (sorry, again). More importantly, here are some combinations to get you started:

• Fudge-flavored pop with milk and a shot of coffee-flavored liqueur
• Raspberry pop and Champagne
• Cherry pop in prosecco or rosé
• Lime pop in tonic water with a shot of tequila
• Grapefruit pop in a pale ale
• Pomegranate pop with gin and soda

What's your favorite pop-tail combination? Do you have a better name? Tell us in the comments below!

Photo by James Ransom