Margaritas Are Coming For Your Ice Cream

Happy hour is moving to the ice cream shop.

Videos by Sporked

In honor of National Tequila Day, organic tequila brand Pantalones and boozy ice cream maker Tipsy Scoop have teamed up to turn the margarita into a dessert. The result is a limited-edition Peaches & Cream Margarita Ice Cream―fresh peach ice cream spiked with reposado tequila and a hint of lime, meant to taste like a peach margarita you can eat with a spoon.

It’s available through August at Tipsy Scoop’s Barlours, at $8.50 a scoop or $16 a pint, and nationwide through Goldbelly if you’re willing to commit to a four-pint pack for $109.95. (That’s a lot of margarita ice cream, but it’s summer, and none of my business.)

And if peach isn’t your margarita of choice, a second one is coming. Later this summer, Tipsy Scoop’s new Dallas location will get its own Dallas Margarita Sorbet―a dairy-free citrus sorbet with reposado tequila, orange liqueur, and lime, modeled on a classic Texas margarita. Unlike the peach flavor, that one’s sticking around as a permanent menu item.

Cocktails Keep Turning Into Desserts

The thing about this collaboration is that, as unusual as it sounds, it isn’t really a surprise.

Cocktail-flavored desserts have quietly become their own category. Tipsy Scoop has built an entire business around the idea, with flavors inspired by everything from spiked cold brew to piña coladas. But the crossover has spread well beyond one boozy ice cream shop. Margarita popsicles, mimosa sorbets, and espresso martini everything have all become fair game.

It makes sense. A cocktail is already a flavor profile.

Margarita means lime, sweetness, salt, and a little bite. That translates to ice cream almost too easily. The tequila is arguably the least important part. What you’re really buying is the idea of a margarita, in a format that doesn’t require a glass.

The Boozy Dessert Has a Catch

There’s one small asterisk on all of this.

Boozy ice cream isn’t necessarily as boozy as it sounds. Alcohol can make frozen desserts difficult to freeze properly, which means there’s a limit to how much you can add before you end up with something closer to a melted puddle than a scoop.

So this is dessert that tastes like a margarita―not a margarita you can eat your way through.

Which is probably for the best. It’s August, it’s hot, and there’s something to be said for a margarita that comes with a spoon and won’t ruin your afternoon.

Just don’t expect it to replace the real thing. Although, if someone wants to put a frozen margarita in a cone, I’m listening.