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[1] For drinks or dessert (or perhaps, drink your dessert: Bourbon Slush with Brandied Cherries (photo © The Nibble).
[2] Take advantage of summer peaches to make a Peach Bourbon Slush. Here’s the recipe (photos #2 and #3 © The Speckled Palate).
[3] Make it a slush party with a trio of flavors, including this Cherry Bourbon Slush. Here’s the recipe.
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Updated July 2026
Recently we had the opportunity to preview the book What Can I Bring? by Elizabeth Heiskell, which focuses on favorite Southern recipes.
Among numerous tempting choices, we chose this recipe to share with you because of our weakness for frozen Margaritas and other slushy alcoholic drinks.
Elizabeth Heiskell says, “…it will quickly become your most favorite game day or party go-to. It couldn’t be any easier either, plus it freezes beautifully. You can make it months ahead so it’s ready when you are.”
We decided to make it even more festive, topping it with brandied cherries. It turns the drink into a dessert, instead of sorbet.
This recipe is copyright © 2017 Oxmoor House, reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
June 14th is National Bourbon Day. National Slurpee Day (also known as 7-Eleven Day) is celebrated on July 11th (7/11, get it?), and National Juice Slush Day is the third Wednesday in May.
Below:
> Recipe: Bourbon Slush.
> Recipe: Brandied cherries.
> Slush vs. slushie: Which is it?
> The history of frozen drinks.
Elsewhere on The Nibble:
> Frosé recipes (frozen rosé drinks).
> The history of Bourbon.
> Classic Bourbon cocktails from the “Mad Men” era.
> A brief history of whiskey.
> The different types of whiskey: a photo glossary.
> The year’s 9 Bourbon holidays.
> The year’s 50+ cocktail holidays.
> The year’s 25 whiskey holidays.
> Whiskey vs. whisky.
1. RECIPE #1: BOURBON SLUSH
Prep time is 10 minutes, plus 8 hours in the freezer and 1 hour to semi-thaw before serving.
Ingredients For 10 Servings
6 cups hot brewed tea of choice
1 cup granulated sugar
1 can (12 ounces) frozen lemonade concentrate
6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate (from a 12-ounce can)
2 cups bourbon
Garnish: brandied cherries (recipe below)
Preparation
1. COMBINE the hot tea and sugar in a heat-proof bowl; stir until the sugar dissolves.
2. ADD the lemonade concentrate and orange juice concentrate; stir until blended. Let stand until cool, about 1 hour.
3. STIR in the bourbon. Pour the mixture into a large, freezer-safe container and freeze until almost firm, about 8 hours or overnight. To serve…
4. LET stand at room temperature until partially thawed, about 1 hour. Or, you can spin it in a blender for a smooth-as-silk version.
5. SPOON into glasses and serve immediately.
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[4] Yes, you can eat it as alcoholic sorbet instead of letting it thaw into a drink (photo © Taste Of Home).
2. RECIPE #2: BRANDIED CHERRIES
The recipe is adapted from from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Brandied cherries can be used with many desserts, from ice cream to pound cake.
Tea drinkers: Try your tea Russian-style, with a spoon full of brandied cherries substituting for the traditional cherry preserves (used to sweeten tea instead of sugar).
If you don’t like brandy, choose a fruit liqueur. Orange liqueur (Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Triple Sec) always works.
Ingredients
1/2 cup white granulated or turbinado sugar
1/2 cup cherry juice or water
1 stick cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 cup brandy, maraschino liqueur, dark rum, or any combination
1 pound cherries, stemmed and pitted (substitute frozen cherries out of season)
Preparation
1. COMBINE the sugar, cherry juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a low simmer, stirring until sugar is fully dissolved.
2. REMOVE the saucepan from the heat. Add the brandy and stir to combine. Add the cherries and stir until they are coated in syrup.
3. COOL to room temperature and store in a glass jar. Refrigerate overnight before serving to allow the flavors to meld.
[5] Brandied cherries are a far better replacement than maraschino cherries for popular drinks like the Manhattan, Old Fashioned, and Whiskey Sour, plus most of the Tiki drinks, e.g. Hurricane, Mai Tai, Piña Colada, and Singapore Sling (photo © Gordon Ramsay Group).
3. SLUSH VS. SLUSHIE: WHICH IS IT?
Although people often use the terns interchangeably, there is a difference.
A Slush is a broad term for a semi-frozen mixture with noticeable ice crystals, like a granita. The term can be used to describe a drink, a dessert, or even an unflavored icy mixture, e.g. an ice water slush. There are a three sub-categories:
Machine-frozen drinks are made in a frozen-drink machine that freezes and churns the mixture continuously to deliver a smooth texture.
Freezer-frozen drinks, like the Bourbon Slush recipe above, are made by freezing a large batch of cocktail liquid over several hours that creates a snow-like consistency, like granita. It can be
Blender drinks, made by blending the cocktail ingredients with ice cubes in a high-speed blender, are typically made to order. The consistency is more chunky/crunchy (granita-like).
A Slushie is a ready-to-drink, machine-dispensed frozen beverage—often sweeter, smoother, and more uniform in texture. The word was popularized with non-alcoholic convenience-store drinks such as Slurpees or ICEEs, although the machine can also be used for frozen cocktails.
[6] Just about any cocktail can be frozen, but here are some favorites (from left to right): Frozen Gin & Tonic, Frozen Piña Colada, Frozen Cosmo, Frosé, Frozen Margarita with Blue Curaçao, Frozen Strawberry Margarita (photo © The Nibble).
4. THE HISTORY OF FROZEN DRINKS
Frozen drinks are far, far older than the invention of refrigerators and ice cubes. Their history begins with people mixing snow or ice with sweetened, flavored liquids—which is the how what we now call sorbet, which evolved to include ice cream began (the history of ice cream).
Note that until the 20th century, iced drinks were available to those who could afford ice—i.e., the well-to-do.
Ancient origins. Residents of China, Greece, Persia, and Rome enjoyed chilled mixtures made with mountain snow or stored ice, flavored with fruit juice, honey, wine, or syrups. In Persia, sharbat—a sweet, fruit- or flower-flavored drink served cold—inspired the word sherbet.
Medieval ice houses. In the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Asia, ice and snow were collected and stored in insulated underground structures. This made frozen or iced treats available beyond the winter season.
Renaissance sorbet, granita, and ice drinks. By the Renaissance and early modern period, techniques for freezing sweet liquids improved. Italy developed sorbetto and later granita, a coarse, crystalline frozen dessert/drink, especially associated with Sicily. These are the ancestors of today’s slush/slushie drinks.
19th/20th century rise of mechanical refrigeration. Commercial ice production and refrigeration made frozen beverages more practical and widely available. Soda fountains helped popularize chilled and blended drinks.
Mid-20th century: the modern slushie: The machine-dispensed slush emerged in the late 1950s. American inventor Omar Knedlik discovered that partially freezing bottled soda created an enjoyable semi-frozen drink. He developed the ICEE machine and product.
1966: Slurpee. In 1966, 7‑Eleven began selling an ICEE-based frozen drink under the name Slurpee, named for the sound made when drinking it through a straw. It became one of the best-known slush drinks in North America.
1971: The Frozen Margarita Machine. Mariano Martinez famously modified a soft-serve ice cream machine to handle the high sugar and alcohol content of the Margarita, revolutionizing the way frozen cocktails are served.
Frozen sodas and modern variations: From the late 20th century onward, frozen beverages expanded into branded frozen colas, fruit slushes, coffee drinks, cocktails such as frozen Margaritas and Daiquirís, and the “frosé” wine slush. Today, slushes/slushies range from brightly colored convenience-store drinks to artisanal versions made with real fruit, tea, herbs, and sparkling water.
So from ancient China to today, that slush has had quite a journey!
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