This Frozen Italian Cocktail Keeps You Cool All Summer, And You Only Need 3 Ingredients

Fun and frozen cocktails are as synonymous as they are elusive. While the former can be stymied by pesky impediments like professional obligations and personal expectations, the former can seem as out of reach as a commercial grade drink machine. Sure, you can make those frozen margaritas and other icy libations in the blender, but you'll still have to wash the darn thing when you're done. One frigid tipple, instead, looks to the floating city of Venice for an easier sip, without the inevitable chores.

Sgroppino is one of many delicious Italian cocktails, and it mixes vodka, Prosecco, and sorbet to the taste, consistency, and alcohol tolerance of your desire. If you are portioning your sgroppino to approximate a machine-made frozen cocktail, then you'll need to include enough liquid to be able to easily stir it all together with the sorbet using just a spoon. You can introduce the Prosecco and the vodka by the ounce to get the texture to your liking. You can also simply pour the booze into pretty coupes or martini glasses, or perhaps even Champagne flutes, and float a dollop of sorbet like a kind of bizarro affogato. And it's even more customizable from there.

We believe that bubbles are compulsory to achieve the sgroppino's ideal effervescence, but Cava can work as well as Prosecco, and it's typically less sweet, which helps when pairing with sorbet. In this case, we'd just shy away from a more expensive, real deal, black grape-derived Champagne, as you will be adulterating it with the other ingredients. You can also get away with a lightly effervescent wine like a vinho verde that stops short of your bigger sparklers.

Most sgroppinos will use lemon sorbet, which does create a nice, light bit of refreshment, but you can swap in virtually any flavor you wish. Fruit flavors like other citrus varieties, berry, or stone fruit options will perform the best, while heavier selections like chocolate will have a totally different milkshake effect. You can also omit the vodka entirely, or swap it with another spirit or liqueur to put your own signature spin on the elegant summer classic.