Tropical Popsicle Recipe
A whiskey highball that tastes like an ice lolly: passion fruit and lime for tang, Aperol for a bitter-orange edge, soda for length.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Highball glass
- ABV: 10%
- Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- Bourbon or rye whiskey45 ml (1.5 oz)
- Aperol15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Fresh lime juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Passion fruit syrup15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Soda water90 ml (3 oz)
How to Make It
- Shake the whiskey, Aperol, lime juice and syrup briefly with ice.
- Strain into a highball glass filled with fresh ice.
- Top with soda water and stir once.
- Tuck a strip of banana leaf inside the glass.
Garnish
Banana leaf
What it tastes like
Fruit notes come forward, there is pineapple and passion fruit in it, it is carbonated and it drinks cool and easy.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A tall, narrow highball. The narrowness does real work — less surface area means the carbonation lasts longer and the ice melts more slowly.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Aperol
- The orange aperitif, flavoured with bitter orange and rhubarb. It is Campari's gentler cousin: 11% alcohol, sweeter, far less bitter. Substituting Campari means adding sugar.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Passion fruit syrup
- Passion fruit syrup. The seedy pulp is balanced with sugar; it is high in acid, so recipes that use it usually pull back on the lemon.
- Soda water
- Plain carbonated water. It goes in LAST and nothing is stirred after it. An open bottle goes flat fast, so small bottles make more sense than big ones.
The Story
A contemporary American highball built around passion fruit syrup, in the fruity, low-effort style of modern home-bar recipes.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Tropical Popsicle mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a highball glass.
- How strong is a Tropical Popsicle?
- Roughly 10% ABV as served — lighter than a beer — a long-conversation drink that takes a second round.
- Can a Tropical Popsicle be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Tropical Popsicle hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.