Soft-serve margaritas hit Denver as small restaurants bet thousands on viral summer trend

It was 2 a.m. when Joan Velazquez saw the video.

A restaurant in Houston called Doña Leti’s was dispensing margaritas out of a soft-serve machine — thick, swirled, colorful, topped with chamoy and Tajín. It looked like frozen custard had a baby with a cocktail. Within seconds, Velazquez was upstairs, knocking on her mother’s bedroom door.

“I got a great idea … soft-serve margaritas!” she told her mother, Maria Carbajal, who owns Pupusas y Tacos Los Reyes in southeast Denver. “We can purchase a machine and try it!”

They bought the machine. They figured out the recipe. And now they can’t make them fast enough.

Soft-serve margaritas — cold, creamy, thick enough to eat with a spoon and photogenic enough to break Instagram — are the drink of the summer in Denver. The trend went viral on social media roughly two months ago, spread from Texas to cities across the country, and is now landing in Denver restaurants just as patio season kicks into gear.

As of this week, only a handful of Denver spots are serving the drink. But the ones that are can barely keep up.

The key distinction between a soft-serve margarita and a standard frozen margarita is the equipment. A frozen margarita comes out of a blender — coarse, slushy, granular. A soft-serve margarita comes out of a soft-serve machine — smooth, dense and silky, with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

That equipment barrier is the reason the trend hasn’t exploded across every bar in Denver overnight. A soft-serve machine costs thousands of dollars, takes up significant floor space and requires calibrating a precise mixture of margarita mix, tequila, Grand Marnier and soft-serve base to achieve the right texture.

“Alcohol doesn’t freeze, so it was coming out soupy,” said Gaschani, an owner at Moose Hill Cantina, describing the trial-and-error process of getting the recipe right. “Then we found the exact mixture of margarita mix, tequila, Grand Marnier, and soft-serve mix, and it came out to a perfect texture.”

Gaschani has since upgraded to four machines — including one dedicated to a nonalcoholic version — for a total investment of about $18,000.

The morning after Moose Hill posted a photo of its new soft-serve margarita on Facebook, Gaschani arrived at the restaurant to find a line waiting outside that stretched into the parking lot. A few hours later, the Instagram account Denver Food Scene showed up, filmed a video and posted it that night.

At Moose Hill, pineapple is the most popular flavor — in part because it’s dairy free. But the restaurant keeps a rotation that includes blue coconut, strawberry, peach and cherry. Toppings range from chamoy and Tajín to fresh fruit, Nerds candy and boba. An extra shot of tequila is available for those who want the drink to hit a little harder.

The success has already inspired expansion. As of April 30, Moose Hill added soft-serve Moose Milk — the restaurant’s housemade cream liquor that had been a longtime secret recipe. Gaschani hinted that daiquiris may be next.

Pupusas y Tacos Los Reyes is offering its own lineup, and ADOBO Restaurant & Bar has brought them to LoHi. Multiple other Denver-area restaurants have begun posting soft-serve margaritas on Instagram in recent weeks, suggesting the trend is accelerating as summer approaches.

Where to find soft-serve margaritas in Denver

• Pupusas y Tacos Los Reyes — SE Denver
• Moose Hill Cantina — Multiple flavors including pineapple, blue coconut, strawberry, peach, cherry; $15; also offers nonalcoholic version and soft-serve Moose Milk
• ADOBO Restaurant & Bar — LoHi