Want Soft, Scoopable Homemade Ice Cream? Booze Is the Answer

published May 27, 2015
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Did you know you can add hard alcohol, beer, or wine to your homemade ice cream base? Not only will it taste deliciously boozy, but it will also make for a softer scoop of ice cream.

Cue the daily science lesson!

By adding booze to your homemade ice cream recipe, you’re essentially lowering its freezing point. As Max Falkowitz explains on Serious Eats: “By adding alcohol to ice cream, you increase that proportion of liquid syrup to solid fat and ice, which makes for a softer scoop.”

Of course, there’s a limit to how much booze you can add until your ice cream turns into a sloppy mess. Adding more than five or six tablespoons to a standard quart of ice cream means that the ice cream might never freeze. (It will also just taste kinda gross.)

Read more: The Real Rules of Making Boozy Ice Cream from Serious Eats