Ice, Ice, Baby

The Laurel Park snow cone cocktail at Art and Soul layers crushed ice with gin, St. Germain liqueur, sparkling rose, cucumbers and strawberries.
Photo: Moshe Zusman Photography

Crushed ice. I swear just saying those words out loud takes the edge off a 90-degree day.

And this first official — and appropriately steamy — day of summer seems like a good time to look at all the attention being heaped on crushed, slushed and shaved ice. Preferably with the addition of booze.

Last week, The New York Times took a look at the evolution of the snow cone, and Washington Post spirits columnist Jason Wilson examined the swizzle with two recipes for crushed ice cocktails: a rum swizzle and Derek Brown's Chartreuse swizzle.

Here in DC, Capitol Hill's Art and Soul just launched a new Sno-Cone cocktail menu featuring spiked versions of the childhood treat. (Deal alert! The Sno-Cone cocktails, regularly $12 each, are $6 during happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday – Thursday.)

And I'll be first in line to try barman Adam Bernbach's take on alcohol-enhanced slushies when the Spanish-accented Estadio opens on 14th Street in a few weeks. (I hear the slushie machines have arrived.)

A few more drinking destinations with crushed ice cocktails:
• Bourbon Steak: The Caribbean Sunset pours Niesson Blanc Rhum, St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram, fresh lime and ginger syrup over crushed ice with a grenadine float.
• The Gibson: A recent off-menu creation over crushed ice tasted like a grown-up creamsicle.
• The Passenger/Columbia Room: I'm still thinking about the refreshing Gin Daisy that Derek Brown served on a recent visit to the Columbia Room, with yellow Chartreuse, housemade grenadine and lemon juice.

Sipped a delicious crushed ice cocktail recently? Tell me about it.