Review: Herb and Lou’s Infused Cocktail Cubes – The Cooper

Editor’s Note: This product was provided to us as a review sample by Herb and Lou’s Infused Cocktail Cubes. This in no way, per our editorial policies, influenced the final outcome of this review. 

Herb and Lou’s Infused Cocktail Cubes are an innovative take on cocktail preparation. They are frozen cubes containing the bitters and flavors needed for a mixed drink – minus the alcohol. When the time comes to unwind or get a party going, all that’s needed is to mix the liquor of choice with a cube, shake or stir them together, and you have a complete, chilled cocktail ready in seconds. Or, add them to club soda for a ready-to-go mocktail.

The idea came from the founders’ grandfathers, Herb and Lou, who were good friends. They liked throwing parties but didn’t enjoy taking much time to mix cocktails. They are credited with coming up with the idea of throwing the cocktail fixings in ice cube trays and creating the cocktail cube.

You can buy Herb and Lou’s Infused Cocktail Cubes off their website. They are $16 for a 6-cube pack and $22 for 12 cubes. The cubes come in a variety of different flavors meant for different liquors. The cube featured in this review, The Cooper, is meant to be mixed with bourbon or rye to create a blood orange and ginger old-fashioned.

I really liked the packaging for The Cooper. The cubes come in individual packages, held together in cardboard sleeves of six. I liked being able to take the sleeve out of the box and put the whole thing in the freezer. When I wanted to make a drink, I just popped out one pod and kept the rest of the sleeve chilling. The cube has an easy-to-open peel-back film that reveals the frozen cube. The box design is very fun with an art deco aesthetic that adds sophistication. 

I tried The Cooper both in water and in whisky, for comparison. In water, all the flavors advertised really come through. I was impressed with the blood orange flavor, particularly, since blood orange tastes so different than a regular orange. The ginger was a little buried in the whisky, although the blood orange and bitters come through well. The cube is a little sweet for my taste when mixed with only one shot, as recommended on their site. However, I know the level of sweetness will be a plus for many.

Overall, I think this is a really fun, novel product, great for parties or gifts. It allows people to individualize their cocktail or mocktail experience without having to get behind the bar and muddle, pour, and mix the ingredients themselves. Herb and Lou were on to something here. The flavors of The Cooper create a fun take on the old-fashioned. I appreciated that they took the traditional drink and swapped orange for blood orange and added the ginger.  These notes play well together and make the resulting cocktail memorable. Herb and Lou’s Infused Cocktail Cubes are worth checking out.