Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/977771
1 16 / the tasting panel / may 2018 Before Kelvin Slush Co. made a name for itself with its premium fro- zen cocktail mix, Co-Founders Alex Rein and Zack Silverman started out serving non-alcoholic slushies behind the wheel of a repurposed 1975 Ford mail truck in New York City. According to Silverman, the two former attorneys—not necessarily loving their legal careers—had initially bonded over their unquench- able love of slushie drinks while lamenting the stigma around "law- yers showing up to work with giant neon cups and purple tongues." The duo wanted to make slushies socially acceptable for adults while creating drinks free of the myriad chemicals and additives so prevalent in the category, so they followed Ghandi's advice to be the change they wished to see in the frozen drinks market. In its first year of operation, the Kelvin Slush truck earned enough buzz to win a Vendy Award for best food truck as it gained a following at events like Smorgasburg and the Brooklyn Flea. Rein and Silverman noticed their patrons often brought flasks to the truck, spiking their slush like they were at a high school dance. The observation highlighted an unmet demand in the beverage indus- try, and their team quickly learned that although the craft cocktail scene had been undergoing a renaissance, frozen cocktails had been left in the cold. To help fill this void, Kelvin Slush began collaborating with bars and restaurants in its home neighborhood of Brooklyn to create versatile and balanced mix flavors that could meld with a wide range of cocktails—finally giving frozen drinks the same attention to detail and purity of ingredients being displayed in traditional mixology. Kelvin Slush now offers six organic flavors with a consistent focus on making high-quality frozen cocktails rather than icy afterthoughts. Today, instead of watching patrons spike their own slush by the side of a 1975 Ford, the Kelvin team can walk into hundreds of bars and restaurants across the United States and Canada to order a signature frozen cocktail carefully prepared with their recipes. As we gear up for summer and ideal slushie-sipping weather, read on for how a trio of beverage directors are using Kelvin Slush in their cocktails to cool their patrons down while turning up their creativity behind the bar. by Mara Marski BEVERAGE PRODUCTS and the Drinking is Freeze-y Summertime KELVIN SLUSH STAKES ITS CLAIM ON COCKTAIL MENUS AS WARM WEATHER APPROACHES Summertime Summertime Summertime Summertime Summertime Summertime and Summertime and Summertime and Summertime and the Summertime the Summertime the Summertime the Drinking Summertime Drinking Summertime Drinking Summertime Drinking the Drinking the Summertime the Drinking the Summertime the Drinking the Summertime the Drinking the is Summertime is Summertime is Summertime is is Summertime is Summertime is Summertime is Freeze-y Summertime Freeze-y Summertime Freeze-y Summertime Freeze-y is Freeze-y is Summertime is Freeze-y is Summertime is Freeze-y is Summertime is Freeze-y is PHOTO: TIMOTHY MURRAY The Dangerous Summer cocktail at Blue Smoke in New York City.