Frozen Drink Happy Hour

Boozy frozen drinks are all the rage this summer, from frozen margaritas on the roof of El Centro D.F. to the spiked snow cones served at Jack Rose. But no one is attacking the concept as gleefully as Matt Larson, the bartender/DJ at the Reef in Adams Morgan. On Thursday nights, he throws a virtual kitchen sink of booze into his ice-filled Vitamix blender on the bar’s jungle-themed first-floor, all while keeping drum ’n’ bass tunes rattling through the sound system.

The hipster pickleback shot — a shot of whiskey chased by a shot of chilled pickle juice — becomes a novelty frozen drink that tastes of Jameson and dill pickles. It’s more refreshing than it sounds. The classic black Russian becomes a rich, intensely coffee-flavored concoction with Van Gogh espresso vodka and Kahlua. (Honestly, it could be a new frozen Starbucks drink and you’d never know the difference.) He whips up an orange crush (orange vodka, orange juice, soda), some fruity tiki-ish thing with peach Ciroc vodka and sweet red juice — all easy drinking, though the black Russian is the winner of the lot.

Because of weekend crowds, Larson pulls out the blender only on Thursday nights — a good reason to start the weekend a little early.

-- Fritz Hahn (July 12, 2012)