About

Phrosties are brightly-colored, sugary alcoholic slushie-style beverages sold in New York City through an Instagram delivery service. In late May 2014, the service shut down under legal pressure from New York’s State Liquor Authority, which in turn quickly gave rise to D.I.Y recipes of the sugary alcoholic beverage on the web.

History

In June 2013,^[2] the Instagram account Phrosties^[1] was created. This was the only presence, web or otherwise, for the drink business. In order to be able to order a Phrostie, users had to be approved to follow the account. Once an Instagram user was approved to follow the account, they gained access to phone numbers assigned to each New York City borough. Users then would text the appropriate number, and a delivery man^[4] would come to their location with a cooler of Phrosties of a variety of flavors priced at $10 each. As of early May 2014, the Instagram had gained over 12,000 followers.

Investigation

In a press conference held on May 26th, 2014, New York Senator Charles Schumer^[10] expressed an interest in regulating and possibly shutting down the Phrosties Instagram, saying:

“A few weeks ago, I talked about powdered alcohol. I’m making an effort to prevent that from being sold. I would like to see the same thing happen to these ‘sloshies’ ” if they’re not regulated."

The same day Phrosties deleted its Instagram account,^[11] resurrecting it the following day with all but two of its images removed. Also that day CBS^[12] reported New York's State Liquor Authority was investigating the business.

Reception

On April 28th, 2014, Swimmingly^[5] published an article titled "We Ordered Illegal Alcoholic Slushies and (Barely) Lived to Tell the Tale." The article described Phrosties as tasty and very strong, saying:

"Overall, the experience is like college in a bottle. The drinks were as frosty (phrosty?) as one would hope. And again, they were very, very strong.

On May 15th, Bedford and Bowery published an article titled "The Verdict on Phrosties: ‘Try This Psycho Juice While It Is Still Legal’," and on May 20th, Grub Hub published an article titled "Phrosties: The Only Way to Get Phucked Up This Summer."

While most reviews praised the taste and how quickly the drinks can get someone intoxicated, on May 27th, Bright Young Things^[9] published an article titled "Taste Test: Phrosties," which features a negative review:

"It was very, very not good. Actually, it might be good if you think this would be a solid idea: imagine placing cherry cough syrup, Popov vodka, a coconut air freshener and sadness into a blender with some ice. Does that sound good? If so, you will enjoy your Phrosty experience. If not, you will not enjoy your Phrosty experience, because it is exactly like that."

DIY Recipes

After the Phrosties Instagram account was shut down after being brought under investigation by the New York State’s Liquor Authority, several sites published their own recipes to make Phrosties at home. On May 28th, Refinary29^[6] published a guide titled "DIY Your Own Boozy Slushies." The next day Buzzfeed^[7] published a pictorial guide and The Daily Dot^[8] published a guide explained through Vines.

Search Interest

External References