WHAT could be better than a refreshing ice lolly on a hot summer’s day?
How about one with an added measure of your favourite booze?
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Supermarket Aldi has just introduced a range of “hard” desserts in the form of vodka and rum-laced cocktail-flavour sorbet pots.
And if that’s not enough to make you feel merry in the freezer aisle, the good news is that they aren’t the only alcoholic afters available.
From feisty, funky ice pops to sloshed sorbets, here Laura Stott tastes and rates a range of adult-only frozen puds.
Carte D’Or Rum & Raisin 825ml, £4.50, Morrisons 0.18% rum – 1/5
LIKE a hint of alcohol but not too much of the real thing?
This ice cream, which contains only the tiniest amount of rum, might hit the perfect frozen spot for you.
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There are a few rum-flavoured components, including the chocolate sauce and the raisins themselves, but the tipple taste is barely detectable.
The ice cream itself was okay, but for this high price I think it could and should be a lot better – it was more of a “whippy”-style vanilla with a light, aerated texture, and no taste or sight of the black flecks of the real bean.
It also melted quickly as it’s very thin.
The chocolate sauce was poor quality and the cake pieces scattered over the top were dry and tasteless.
You’d be better having a scoop of a decent vanilla and pouring a shot of your preferred rum over the top.
Shuda Passion Fruit Martini Flavour Alcoholic Sorbet 250ml, £1, Iceland, 4% vodka – 3/5
PORNSTAR martini fans will be licking their lips at the prospect of slurping these boozy, slushy cocktails that are delivered in a frozen pouch.
The pre-mixed sachets come as a liquid and you have to freeze them for a few hours, then cut them open and squeeze gently to enjoy a slushy sorbet-style vodka-laced fruity glugger.
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Sitting somewhere in the middle of a sorbet and a boozy, iced punch, it feels more like you’re sipping a drink than eating a dessert but is no less enjoyable as a result.
It has a nice fruity flavour but I did find them rather sweet and quite messy.
They also seemed to melt rather quickly.
I think they’d be best squeezed out into a bowl and slurped up that way – with an extra shot of booze added should you fancy one.
Tipsies Cocktail Pops 12 x 70ml, £19.99, amazon.co.uk 5% rum, vodka and others – 3/5
IF you loved ice pops as a kid then these are the intoxicating adult equivalent.
The alcohol-laced 5% abv freezer pops aren’t called Tipsies for nothing.
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Each box of 12 contains a cocktail menu selection including mojito, passion fruit martini and pina colada, so you can pick your tipple and enjoy in frozen form.
Details of the exact percentage of spirits included in each squiffy suck aren’t given but all come in at 5% abv and are made with the real spirit the drink equivalent is based on.
My favourite was the zesty and refreshing mojito flavour, which had a real kick of rum and vanished far too fast!
Jude’s Rum & Raisin Ice Cream 460ml, £5, Sainsburys, or £3, ocado.com 4% rum – 5/5
YO ho ho and a bottle of . . . ice cream?
If you want to round off your meal with a scoop or two of something that will make you feel merry then this is definitely the ice cream to opt for.
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Containing 4% rum, this pirate-friendly pud offered the second most generous measures of neat booze of all the drunken desserts I tried, and it’s not subtle either – you really can taste and smell the spirit in every spoonful of this potent frozen pud.
Booze aside, this is also a wonderful tasting tub.
Made with fresh cream there’s a melt-in-the-mouth richness that certainly tastes a cut above, and that’s before you savour the masses of juicy raisins and yet more rum and raisin sauce.
Watch out if you scoff the lot as you might be unable to walk straight afterwards.
Baileys Ice Cream 825ml, £4.50, most supermarkets 0.21% Baileys – 2/5
BAILEYS fans will be in pudding paradise with this ice cream laced with the Irish cream liqueur.
The idea of turning the famous tipple into a dessert makes a lot of sense as the sweet, rich and creamy choc and vanilla-flavoured glug – served in a glass with lots of ice – is already as good as a pud for many sippers.
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Freezing it and putting it in a tub to eat with a spoon seems a logical next step.
Flavour-wise the results are mixed, however.
What you end up with is essentially Baileys vanilla ice cream, decorated with dark choc flakes on top and throughout.
The main component giving you the liqueur flavour is the 22 per cent caramel sauce, and there is an awful lot of this gloopy mix – which is great if you enjoy the toffee taste.
I personally found it rather sickly, but in fairness it is precisely what a lot of Baileys fans will want.
Gianni’s Cocktail Mini Pots 4 x 110ml, £2.99, Aldi 1% vodka or rum – 3/5
DON’T be fooled by the innocent appearance of these frozen cocktail pots from Aldi.
They are small but the 1% booze in each tiny tub means they pack a pretty powerful punch.
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Each box contains two different flavours of frozen drinks – passion fruit martini and mojito.
The former contains a shot of 1% vodka and the latter 1% rum, making them a refreshing option for a warm day that will also give you a bit of a buzz.
Tipsy qualities aside these mini-tipple treats are also rather tasty.
My favourite was the smooth, mellow passion fruit flavour which slipped down a treat.
Scoff too many of these and you might start to feel a bit squiffy.
Remeo Malfy Spritz Sorbetto Lolly 3 x 70ml, £5, ocado.com 5% Prosecco, 2% gin – 5/5
IF your idea of bliss is glugging an Aperol spritz or a similar bitters-themed boozy refresher in the sunshine then this aperitif on a stick should be a must in your freezer this summer.
The lolly equivalent of sipping something sharp and refreshing while nibbling on some olives, this sophisticated abv sucker is classy, grown-up and really rather chic.
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For such a simple little eat with minimal ingredients, the flavours are fabulous, concentrated and extremely potent.
It’s made with 45 per cent blood orange along with a whopping 5% Italian sparkling wine and an added 2% orange flavour gin on top.
If you love the drink you can’t go wrong.
Considering how much booze you get, they are great value too.
Tiramisu Gelato 380g, £4.50, Sainsburys 0.5% Marsala Wine – 4/5
WITH thick coffee sauce, mascarpone ice cream, a thick cocoa dusting and a strong waft of sweet wine, merely looking at this gorgeous gelato for grown-ups was enough to make my mouth water.
If you thought tiramisu – the classic Italian pud made with sponge, chocolate, coffee, soft cheese cream and Marsala wine – couldn’t be beaten then you haven’t tried it as an ice cream yet.
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This drool-worthy tub doesn’t just look incredible.
When you get your spoon into it, the flavours are just as good too.
The gelato is smooth and creamy, the thick layer of chocolate powder on top isn’t too sweet and there’s just enough kick from the 0.5% marsala wine.
Shame you don’t get much in the container.
