HOUSTON, TX — As summer heat settles across the South, tall and refreshing drinks surge in popularity. Classic cocktails are being reimagined to suit the season—Negronis stretched into Americanos, and highballs making their return in frosted glasses. At EZ’s Liquor Lounge in Houston’s Heights neighborhood, this seasonal shift finds its fullest expression in an inventive cocktail served in a bracingly chilled mug: the Colorado Cool-Aid.
EZ’s, a relative newcomer housed in what was once a bicycle shop, has quickly become a local fixture. With a pool table at its center, vintage neon beer signs, and a velvet portrait of Willie Nelson anchoring the bar, the establishment balances dive-bar charm with elevated cocktail offerings. According to co-owner Matt Tanner, the vision was to create a welcoming neighborhood bar—an easy stop after family dinners or community events, where the drinks are as thoughtfully made as they are approachable.
The bar pays subtle homage to Houston’s historical icehouses—once-essential community hubs where residents purchased blocks of ice before the advent of home refrigeration in the 1920s. Many of those establishments evolved into the casual bars and convenience stores that remain familiar today. EZ’s channels that legacy with a modern sensibility, particularly through its use of heavy, frosted mugs that evoke the past while delivering contemporary flavor.
The Colorado Cool-Aid, a standout on the menu, draws inspiration from a fishing trip Tanner took to Colorado. The cocktail is named after the 1977 Johnny Paycheck song that tells the tale of a bar fight in Houston, referencing the drink as “a can of Coors brewed from a mountain stream.” Tanner’s version blends whiskey, amaro, and fresh lemon juice—elements of a Paper Plane—then tops it with Coors Banquet. The result is a long, cooling cocktail that softens the whiskey’s intensity, brightens with citrus, and finishes with the crispness of cold beer.
Served in a frosted mug, the drink encapsulates the essence of a Southern summer afternoon—cool, easygoing, and just complex enough to linger. As temperatures climb and shade becomes a mirage, beverages like the Colorado Cool-Aid offer more than refreshment: they provide a nostalgic escape, one frosty sip at a time.
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