I don't have experience but boy, a thin ice sphere transporting in Tx? My first reaction was that is a disaster waiting to happen.

I do have experience with edible glitter ... in maple syrup, of all things, and drinks. I didn't have the syrup btu the kids did.. I don't remember a mouth feel at all and definitely not a gritty mouth feel. The kids just ate the syrup up-- no complaints.

But now I am wondering if I had glitter in my drink or if it was gold leaf? I think it may have been the latter. The syrup was definitely glitter.

just as I suspected … the closest outlet for dry ice is 30 minutes away.

Gotta agree transporting could be risky. I’m not much help other than saying I’d be happy with Ina’s Pomegranate Cosmos.👍🏻

No idea if this would be helpful, but I get emails from this site. Some of the cocktails have caught my eye but I haven’t tried any.

https://inspiredbycharm.com/category/drinks/

I would experiment but here's my thought: In a pitcher mix all the ingredients for the Cosmo except the pomegranate juice. In a separate container mix the pomegranate juice with the gold glitter. Pour the pomegranate juice mixture into a mold for small round ice cubes and freeze solid. To transport the ice cubes, wrap a wet towel around the frozen ice cube mold and freeze. Once frozen, place the bundle in a large Ziploc, wrap in another chilled and place in a pre-chilled cooler.

To serve, place some pomegranate ice cubes in a martini glass then pour the liquid mixture down the inside of the glass. This is so the ice cubes won't melt too quickly. Garnish with lime curls on a gold toothpick and serve immediately.

@moosemac, WOW that has real possibilities! Thanks.

Dry ice would work. I have purchased it before from a company that makes ice. It is very cheap. I suggest contacting an ice company in your area.

Have you had POM? I bought two bottles for the first time last year to make Cosmos and they tasted disgusting, like rotten fruit. It ruined our drink.

You could use that technique with a lemon drop. Try making lemon drops with limoncello to amp up the lemon.

This website includes a recipe for 8 cocktails.

https://www.foodologygeek.com/lemon-drop-martini/

Eileen, I know from making Aviation cocktails (which I make with Empress 1908 Indigo gin) that the more acid that is use with butterfly pea flower extracts, the paler/grayer/more diluted the purple becomes. I thought about making Lemon Drops, because they are my favs. (My recipe is 2 oz. vodka, 1 oz Limoncello, 1 oz simple syrup, 0.5 oz lemon juice. Shaken and strained) However, between the lemon juice and the Limoncello, I’m afraid the butterfly pea flower tea ice ball would just turn gray as it melted.

Oh, wait a minute. Were you talking about making the ice spheres and filling them with Lemon Drops?

The only time I’ve had POM was when I made Ina’s Pomegranate Cosmos. As far as I can remember, it was fine. But then again, I’m not a Cosmo fan or a pomegranate fan.

@ilikefriday, the closest place I can buy dry ice is 30 miles away. Our little town used to have an ice house, but it is long gone. All of the ice is shipped in from bigger places.

@chloebud, thanks for the link. There sure are a lot of shot-type drinks there! I’m afraid the small amount of decorum that we try to maintain would go out the window if I served shots. 😁 (I’ve never had a shot in my life. 😳)

These are the ones I can remember having made in the past:

Honey Badger (Bee’s Knees made with bourbon)

Ina’s Pomgranate Cosmo

Bichon Frise

Veuve Cliquot for our 5th anniversary

Classic Martini

Aviation

The only way to transport anything that needs to stay fully frozen, such as thin spheres of ice is by using dry ice. get it in advance and you should be able to store brown paper wrapped pieces in a small cooler. cover it well with paper or cloth but don’t close the lid tightly. do be super careful handling it.

How do you form thin spheres that will shatter without mess in a cocktail glass?

Oh, wait a minute. Were you talking about making the ice spheres and filling them with Lemon Drops?

Yup.

I want to try the Robin Redbreast cocktail when blood oranges come in season. I always got a blood orange margarita when we went out to our favorite restaurant pre-Covid. It would provide more color than a lemon drop in the ice sphere.

The responses say to add some simple syrup.

https://www.liquor.com/recipes/robin-redbreast/

I have never seen blood oranges available in the grocery where I live. It is very small. It is so small, I used to be able to tell folks to turn off the US highway onto the state highway and take a right at the first light. It was 35 miles before you got to the first light.

I haven’t read all the replies, so this may have been suggested, but I would ask the hostess if you could assemble and store the balls in her freezer a few days before the lunch.

The internet ate my response. Ugh. You can do it without dry ice. You need a lot of insulating towels and blanket which will fit your cooler or box, a big bag of ice to cool those things down, then go back in the freezer, and ice packs. Also, be all packed into the car and ready to go before you remove the chill down ice (about half an hour in the cooler/blankets). Then put the molds in, with the chill packs and insulating blankets, take immediately to the car, and cover with more blankets, coats, etc. Drive.

I highly recommend Polar Tech Re-Freez-R-Brix:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009W7YCH4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Oly, I thought about making the balls at her house, but it is a relatively lengthy process (freeze for 45 minutes, then turn every 30 minutes for several times, then remove the water, etc). I don’t know that I want to be underfoot for that long.

Sounds like you need an Icecoo refrigerator/freezer built for the car/RV. That way keeping the spheres frozen will no longer be an issue ;-)

😂😂😂 Not enough that I’m going to have to buy something to make 8 ice spheres, another gadget to remove the water from them, 8 small mallets to break the spheres, and maybe 8 syringes so that everything can be individually prepped (we haven’t even talked about liquor yet) and now Friday is trying to get me to buy some sort of portable freezer for the car. I only thought plllog’s foam freezer blocks were pricey! You people aren’t influencers, you’re enablers!! And I love every one of you!

::snicker:: Those are an investment in the future! And the price is for three. ;) But the same method works with the delivery gel packs you can put on your plants, old sack lunch ice packs, blocks of water frozen in containers or zip bags, etc. And with enough old towels and blankets, you can use a cardboard box if you don't have a cooler.

Interesting question about open container. At least one of us is hauling open liquor once a month. Unless we are flying down the road at twice the speed limit and sipping on a cocktail as we go, I think we are safe. 😁

Coolers I have. I’m only going, literally, 5 minutes away (I thought it was 10 but Google maps says it is 5).

Re: dry ice. I buy mine at Baskin Robbins Ice Cream. If you have an ice cream store near you, maybe check there?

I’ll give them a call, Oly. Thanks for that idea!

I may have to rethink this. That is pretty fiddly and I don’t have a soldering iron!

I'm sure you've done your own searching, but I was in pinterest just now to get links to post in the butternut squash thread and one of the pages had a cocktail show up, so I searched for fancy cocktails and found this link...if you don't do the balls, maybe something here would be an option? https://www.shekeepsalovelyhome.com/20-elegant-fall-cocktails/

I hope you bring your own glassware. I wouldn't want anyone near mine with a hammer.

I don’t have useful advice on the spheres, though they sound amazing! You mentioned edible glitter - you can buy edible pearl dust on A; it’s finely ground food grade mica. I’d recommend experimenting with it in your drink to see if it provides the effect you want. With the right drink, a tiny bit swirled in just before serving is very pretty. With some drinks it can get lost or just contribute to a cloudy look. I’d also say, a killer garnish, especially one that adds to the sensory experience, can really take it up a level. Especially if you have or have access to a herb garden. A tiny sprig of lemon balm, or apple mint, or pineapple sage, can be a lovely addition.