Commentary: Girl vs. Slushie

Commentary: All slushie'd out at the NYS fair

We tried a variety of wine slushies at the New York State Fair so you don't have to!
Published: September 4, 2021
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Odds are if you’ve heard about The Great New York State Fair, you’ve also heard about the expansive range of beverages offered there. They’ve got beers, wine, cocktails, chocolate milk, and most importantly, wine slushies. A blend of shaved ice, some fruit flavoring, and wine.

The wine slushie may be the unofficial drink of the NYS fair, but is it all it’s cracked up to be? Whether you’re trying to stay extra COVID safe by not partaking in events with large crowds, or you’re looking for a way to find the best wine slushie without the work — look no further. We tried some of the NYS wine slushies so you don’t have to!

I’m your host, Lydia Herne, and I’m here with my co-host Cate, who will be joining me on this wine slushie journey. As a disclaimer, we are both over the age of 21 and yes we did eat dinner before this.

In past years there’s been a “Wine Court” at the fair, a designated spot where wineries can set up their frozen beverages and fairgoers can try multiple different slushies in the same central location. This year the Wine Court is absent from the fair, but don’t worry, there are still plenty of wine slushies to go around.

The slushie stands are mostly on or near Broadway, aka the long “road” at the fairgrounds, that spans from the Villa Pizze Fritte stand by the Eatery building all the way past the Expo Center at the west end of the grounds.

Although we didn’t try every wine slushie the fair has to offer (because we still had to wake up the next morning), we still got a pretty good sense of the slushies that are available. Like the ones that you might want to avoid, and the ones that are so good you might spend hours in your kitchen with a blender, bag of ice, and double bottle of Barefoot trying to recreate.

First stop: The Tikki Turtle

This first stop was actually just the first stand we came across that offered wine slushies, so we figured it was as good a time as ever to get the ball rolling.

Slush: We got the Red Cat wine slushie, and in my opinion, it tasted more like 7up (which they were pouring into the slushie machine as we got it) more than anything else.

Strength: not strong, unsure if there was even wine in there at all.

Price: $8 for a cup that was maybe 8 oz at best

Rating: 4/10 — we were not impressed.

Second stop: Ashley Lynn

The Ashley Lynn winery, based out of Mexico, NY in Oswego County, had an impressive setup, with many different flavors including Blue Raspberry, Blackberry, Strawberry, and more. And additionally, a beverage called a “wine milkshake” that I was too scared to ask about.

Slush: At Ashley Lynn, we tried two flavors, the Blue Raspberry, and the Raspberry. I wasn’t necessarily crazy about the idea of drinking a wine slushie that’s the same color as Windex — but we were there to try a variety and so a variety we did taste.

Strength: definitely stronger than slush #1, I really do believe there was at least a glass of wine in those bad boys.

Price: $6 for a 10 oz cup (a deal!)

Rating: 5/10 — a big upgrade from our first wine slushie, but we’re still on the hunt for the perfect flavor.

Third stop: Otter Creek Winery

Based out of Philadelphia, NY, the Otter Creek Winery had a fun Grateful Dead theme going for it. Their flavors had names like, Wicked White, Grapeful Red, Sassy Strawberry, and their self-proclaimed bestseller — The All American (which mixes the three flavors together for a delightfully purple-ish slushie experience).

Slush: We tried the Sassy Strawberry and the All American, and surprisingly, we liked the All American more. The strawberry had a cherry cough syrup aftertaste that I couldn’t quite get down with. But the All American was truly a good flavor combination. So I guess sometimes just mixing everything together does work?

Strength: unclear, but a couple of hours later, we were drunk (so probably strong).

Price: $6 for an 8 (or so) oz cup

Rating: 6/10, safe to say this was our favorite

After the wine slushies, we had to cleanse our palette with a cold beer from, The New York State Distellery “Moonshine Bar” which was also offering moonshine slushies, but at that point, we were too slushie’d out to even think about that.

So, here’s our consensus, the fair has a lot of options when it comes to the cold, frozen beverage known as the wine slushie — and sometimes you have to try three of them to figure out that you’re just more of a beer girl.