The Easiest Cocktail Is the One Waiting in Your Freezer

“What is a freezer door cocktail? It works like this: Take a full bottle of the primary liquor for your favorite cocktail and pour off just enough to leave room to add the other ingredients needed for it. Cap the bottle, give it a good shake, then store it on the freezer door. Ready for a drink? Just pour.” 

That’s the introduction to Freezer Door Cocktails, a new book that simplifies the cocktail assembly process and lays out the ideal recipe (well, 75 of them) for cool, batched drinks for summer and beyond. We’ve certainly heard of the process before, but author and James Beard Award winner J.M. Hirsch — the editorial director of the chef-driven media company Milk Street — popularized the idea on Instagram. 

But…are freezer door cocktails really that easy? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The good news is that Hirsch’s book scales recipes for crowds, accounts for dilution and offers substitutes for ingredients in classic tipples that wouldn’t necessarily survive a freezer experience. And that liquor you’re pouring out of the bottle to make space for other ingredients? Each cocktail comes with a “Thirsty for More?” side recipe to utilize that precious boozy runoff. 

The book features full-color illustrations of all 75 recipes, with each drink labeled by a taste profile (refreshing, creamy, sweet, etc.). We spoke with Hirsch about his book, his favorite freezer door cocktail for summer and why instant espresso powder is your best friend. 

InsideHook: What was the original inspiration for making these types of cocktails?

J.M. Hirsch: I saw the idea in a liquor ad in a British cocktail magazine. It was meant as a joke — just fill a liquor bottle with a premade cocktail and pop it in the freezer. But it got me thinking and tinkering. Pretty soon I had a full bottle of Dirty Martini chilling in my freezer. It was pretty amazing to just open the freezer door, grab a bottle and pour a great cocktail. 

At the same time, we’ve seen a ton of prepared cocktails — usually sold in cans — flood the market in recent years. As kind of a joke, my husband and I made a series of social media videos testing them. They were almost universally awful. So when the idea of making batched, high-quality cocktails at home came along, I knew I had to make the concept work.

Are there drinks you tried that just don’t work in this freezer door method?

I was able to adapt pretty much all of the cocktails I wanted to, but anything with bubbles was particularly challenging. Cocktails that include sparkling wine or ginger beer, for example, just can’t be frozen. Same for the Bloody Mary — too much tomato juice. I’d wanted every cocktail to be complete in the bottle. It felt like cheating to tell people to add something when they serve it. In the end, I decided that topping off each pour with a bit of sparkling wine or tomato juice was fine. And I have to say, the Bloody Mary mix is pretty amazing. 

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Your prior book Shake Strain Done was also, in a way, about simplicity. What attracts you to these types of easy-to-make cocktails? 

Reality. Most of us just don’t have the time, energy, equipment or ingredients to produce the same sorts of amazing cocktails we appreciate at a great bar. I have tremendous respect for the folks behind those bars and the drinks they make. But for most of us, those are special experiences, not an everyday thing. So I’ve always gravitated to recipes that hit a sort of sweet spot between approachability and quality. Cocktail recipes that call for a dozen obscure ingredients or a centrifuge just aren’t practical for the home bartender.

What’s the biggest mistake people can make with these types of cocktails? 

It does all come down to the freezing point; if you master that, you can do anything. Any bottle of 40% ABV liquor can be stored in the average home freezer without worry. But adding cocktail ingredients, such as juices, syrups or even lower-ABV liqueurs, changes the volume of alcohol in the bottle, and that changes the freezing point of the mixture. 

To prevent the cocktail from freezing, a freezer door cocktail never should contain more than 20% no- or low-ABV ingredients, such as water or juice. That means you could replace a fifth of a full bottle of 40% ABV liquor with no- or low-ABV ingredients, and it will freeze only if kept at -10°F (-23.5°C) or colder. This is why freezer door cocktails don’t always use the same ratios as conventional cocktails.

What classic cocktail came out the most different due to the ingredient adjustments?

The Espresso Martini was a real challenge. To get the proper richness you want in that drink, I needed to add too much espresso. And since espresso is mostly water, it tends to freeze. My solution was to use instant espresso powder. This let me add as much espresso as needed to get the flavor right without any risk of freezing. As a bonus, the powder tended to promote excellent frothing when you shake the bottle, so you still get that creamy head on the cocktail. 

The Cosmopolitan is another that I struggled with. To get the proper balance of flavors, I needed to add too much cranberry juice cocktail, which froze. The solution was cranberry juice concentrate. 

What’s the best one of these for summer?  

For any fans of the Aperol Spritz — which is not freezer door-friendly — I suggest the Bitter Blood Martini. It has a similar flavor profile but handles the freezer perfectly and has subtle vanilla notes that contrast perfectly with the bittersweet Campari. 

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