Spirited Licks

A bartender and a food scientist who got tired of boozy ice cream that wouldn’t freeze.

08/20/2026

Week 33 is Rye Maple Walnut. The parlor classic rebuilt with a spine: real Grade A Dark maple as the entire sugar system (no granulated sugar anywhere in the recipe), butter-toasted salted walnuts folded in crisp, and a calculated pour of rye doing what bitters do in an old fashioned.

Compressor, Cuisinart, and Creami, freeze numbers worked out.

Full recipe: https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/rye-maple-walnut-ice-cream/

08/13/2026

Most people file Grand Marnier next to the other orange liqueurs and stop there. The cognac underneath is what makes it different, and it shows up late in this one, warm and faintly woody behind the peel.

The zest steeps in warm cream and comes out before the yolks go in. Fifteen minutes, no longer, or the pith starts giving you bitterness you cannot take back out.

Three machines, gram-precise, this week's recipe: https://spiritedlicks.com/grand-marnier-orange-cream-ice-cream/

08/06/2026

Week 31 is Drambuie Heather Honey, the starter guide favorite with the full weekly treatment. Honey twice, once from the liqueur and once from the jar, a Scotch backbone that shows up mid-palate, and a buttered oat crumble folded in crisp at the end.

Compressor, Cuisinart, and Creami, freeze math on the record.

Full recipe: https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/drambuie-heather-honey-ice-cream/

07/30/2026

Week 30 is Spiced Rum Banana Foster. Bananas Foster is one of our favorite desserts, which is why it gets two interpretations in one summer: the daiquiri version in spring, and now the real thing, bananas caramelized in butter and dark brown sugar, the custard built right in the Foster pan, and the spiced rum added cold so the freezer keeps what the flame usually takes.

Compressor, Cuisinart, and Creami.

Full recipe: https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/spiced-rum-banana-foster-ice-cream/

07/23/2026

Week 29 is Sambuca Espresso. Caffè corretto as ice cream: a dark espresso custard built on powder instead of brewed shots (water is the enemy of texture), with the sambuca stirred in cold so the anise stays bright. The liqueur is sweet enough that it replaces a quarter of the sugar on its own.

Compressor, Cuisinart, and Creami, freeze numbers worked out.

Full recipe: https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/sambuca-espresso-ice-cream/

07/16/2026

Week 28 is Cava Peach Saffron. A roasted peach custard, a twenty minute saffron bloom, and one bottle of brut cava working twice: most of it reduced down with the ethanol cooked away, the last pour stirred in raw and cold just before the churn.
The recipe covers compressor, Cuisinart, and Creami, freeze numbers already worked out. Full recipe: https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/cava-peach-saffron-ice-cream/

07/09/2026

The Italians pour limoncello, ice-cold, at the end of dinner. We took it one step further. Fresh lemon out front, Caravella underneath, and a sorbet that scoops straight from the deep freeze. This week's recipe is live for compressor, Cuisinart, and Creami.

https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/limoncello-sorbet-ice-cream/

07/02/2026

Mint chip, but make it a mojito. We went back to the cocktail that taught mint to share a glass with lime and rum, and turned it into ice cream.

Fresh spearmint steeped into the base for the herbal side, peppermint extract for the cold snap, lime zest for brightness with no curdling, and dark chocolate cracked in as thin shards. Bacardi underneath, clean and barely there. It churns up a soft natural green, the color of real mint, not food dye.

Three machine versions in the recipe, standard churn, Cuisinart, and Ninja Creami.

https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/mojito-mint-chhttps://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/mojito-mint-ch -ice-cream/

Lick the bowl,
Jon & Sharyl

07/01/2026

A whiskey sour you eat with a spoon. We built this one sour on purpose: unsweetened tart cherries pureed straight into the base, with Evan Williams underneath for the warm, woody depth. It is sharper than anything else we make, and that is exactly where we wanted it.

This is our Fourth of July gift, free and open, no subscription needed. The post has all three machine versions, standard churn, Cuisinart, and Ninja Creami, so you can make it on whatever you own.

Recipe here: https://spiritedlicks.com/bourbon-sour-cherry-ice-cream/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bonus_20260704

Want a new boozy scoop like this every week? The subscribe form is right there on the page.

Lick the bowl,
Jon & Sharyl

06/25/2026

We froze a Paloma and kept it sour on purpose. Blanco tequila, ruby grapefruit reduced down for bitterness, and a salt-and-syrup swirl that hits like the rim of the glass. We held the sugar low so the grapefruit stays sharp instead of turning into sherbet. Built for the compressor, the Cuisinart, and the Ninja Creami, gram for gram.

New recipe up now: https://spiritedlicks.com/recipes/paloma-grapefruit-ice-cream/

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