Summer is almost at our doorstep and what better way to cool down than with frozen cocktails. In this article, Kevin Peters, Group Bar Manager at Sand Hill Road, Melbourne shows us how to batch the Miami Vice cocktail in a slushie machine.
The Miami Vice cocktail is a rum-based cocktail, a tropical mix of frozen strawberry Daiquiri and frozen Piña Colada. As kitsch as it may sound, frozen drinks with fresh fruity flavours and well-balanced slushies with quality ingredients put the fun back into drinking.
“Our Miami Vice is returning by popular demand this summer at Garden State Hotel,” Kevin Peters explains. “I’m also running a Frozen Strawberry Tommy’s Margarita at one of our other venues, the Waterside Hotel”.
Kevin Peters has always been hooked on frozen cocktails, from his early days of bartending at ‘Ribs and Rumps’ to after work drinks while working abroad. Mothers Ruin in NYC was a regular stop for him where almost every single day, they would have a different frozen drink in their slushie machine.
Below is his recipe and step by step process for batching the Miami Vice in a slushie machine, including how to serve the layered drink and his pro tips for batching a slushie.
How to Batch the Miami Vice Cocktail in a Slushie Machine
Recipe by Kevin Peters – Group Bar Manager, Sand Hill Road, Melbourne
Ingredients for Strawberry Daiquiri
- 1 litre Demerara syrup (1:1)
- 1 litre simple syrup (1:1)
- 2 litres strawberry purée
- 2 x 700ml bottles of gold rum
- 2 litres lime juice
- 1.2 litres water for dilution
Ingredients for Piña Colada
- 6 x 425gcans of Coco Lopez
- 2 x 1.25 litres of pineapple juice
- 2 x 700ml bottles of gold rum
- 1 litre of water for dilution
Equipment You Need
- slushie machine with 2 x 11 litre barrels
Glassware: Hurricane glass (or similar)
Garnish: pineapple leaf, pineapple slice, cocktail umbrella
Method
1. Make sure that the Coco Lopez is in liquid form. You can do so by heating the cans in hot water.
2. Pour all the Strawberry Daiquiri ingredients into one slushie barrel and do the same for Piña Colada ingredients in the other slushie barrel. Place the lid back on the barrels and ensure it’s on tight. Do not over fill machine past maximum fill line. Doing so can cause the machine to over freeze and break.
3. Once ready to serve, half fill a hurricane glass with frozen Piña Colada, layer the frozen Strawberry Daiquiri on top and garnish with a pineapple leaf, a pineapple slice and a cocktail umbrella.
It makes approximately 73 servings per batch.
Pro Tips for Batching a Slushie
Balancing the sugar content is key to getting the right texture for a slushie. The perfect balance is 13-15 Brix (the unit of measurement of sugar to water). You can buy a portable refractometer which measures Brix and helps the cocktail freeze perfectly.
If you’re making the Miami Vice at home using a blender, it’s best to make two drinks at a time. When it comes to using ice, less is always more as you can always add more ice if needed but it’s harder to take out. Always use crushed ice as it gives a better texture to blended drinks.
Photo Credit: Kevin Peters. Used with permission.
