Tales of the Cocktail ice sculptures - ice dragon ice working

Tales of the Cocktail, with ice sculptures!

Tales of the Cocktail is a celebration of the cocktail 🍹and all that goes with it. Not surprisingly, as the birthplace of several unique cocktails (Hurricane, Ramos Gin Fizz, Sazerac, and more), New Orleans is the perfect place for this gathering of industry pros. Since most cocktails are cold ❄️, and New Orleans in July is HOT 🔥, ice plays a big role in this event. And we can bring some big ice! We’ve put together a gallery of our Tales of the Cocktail ice sculptures*, which can have events going on throughout a sizable chunk of New Orleans, from the Bywater to Magazine Street.

*one of these sculptures is not really from Tales of the Cocktail. I’d say you’d have to guess which one, but I’ll probably spill the beans in the captions :/

This year (2025), Tales of the Cocktail runs from July 20-25. If you need a TotC ice sculpture, let us know!

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Gallery Item

G.H. Mumm ice wall and sabres

the sabre girls stand before a G.H. Mumm champagne ice wall at the Royal Sonesta in New Orleans’ French Quarter. They were teaching random people how to whack the tops off champagne bottles with SWORDS 🗡️😱

Reyka Vodka ice throne

her butt probably isn’t that cold, since there’s foam in the seat. But her hands/wrists might be! Reyka vodka likes their ice thrones though, and we love making them! This was at a pretty big Tales of the Cocktail event at Mardi Gras World.

An ice sculpted version of the Spirit of Detroit sculpture for a Tales of the Cocktail event

The Spirit of Detroit luge

look closely and you’ll see that this icy replica of The Spirit of Detroit is an ice luge, made for Two James Spirits. So that it would last and hold detail in July 🔥, the sculpture is engraved INSIDE the ice

an ice bar with Reyka vodka puffin details

Reyka Vodka cooler box ice bar

an ice bar especially built for serving frozen treats, complete with Reyka Vodka puffin details

A crowd stands around a working ice fountain for Becherovka during a Tales of the Cocktail event in the French Quarter

working Becherovka ice fountain

I can’t really pronounce Becherovka. But we CAN make a working ice fountain that has Becherovka running through it. Not for long though! It was July, in the Deep South, after all.

Dawson List peeks into the Reyka Vodka ice photo wall at the Fillmore New Orleans during the 2019 Tales of the Cocktail

Reyka Vodka photo op wall

Sorry, need to photoshop this one or find another pic. Dude, trying to take a picture! 🙄 Seriously, Reyka Vodka likes to bring us fun projects for Tales, and this photo op wall was no exception!

a model sits in a Reyka Vodka ice throne during the 2017 Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans

Reyka Vodka throne in an "ice cave"

THIS is why, even though everyone has a camera all the time, you still need pro photographers! This is called LOVE SUPREME by William Grant & Sons at Crescent Park. Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Also, it was in a freezer truck, not an ice cave 😉

Giant ice chunk for Reyka Vodka at a Tales of the Cocktail event at the World War II Museum in New Orleans

Reyka Vodka iceberg

strangely, this giant iceberg just sprang up in the middle of Nola, just when it was needed to make crushed ice for Reyka cocktails. Weird!

a sugar skull ice luge for a 2019 Tales of the Cocktail event at Le Pavillon hotel

sugar skull double luge

Chopin and Dorda liqueur drinks are poured through this intricate sugar skull double ice luge

G.H. Mumm Champagne ice wall

another look at the bubbly G.H. Mumm champagne ice wall, the target of many a sabered champagne bottle tops 🍾🗡️

a bison ice sculpture for Buffalo Trace bourbon at the Urban League event at the Hyatt Hotel New Orleans

Buffalo Trace buffalo (?)

ok, not technically at Tales of the Cocktail. And not a Buffalo (It’s a BISON.) But definitely spirit-oriented, and the event was in Nola, at about the same time of year…so, close? Plus, I just like this icy bison!

Tullamore D.E.W. ice luge

I dunno, I’ve never seen a track luge like this one before. It was a first for us, freezing bottle artwork into the bottom of the luge and carving a luge track into the top.

a Whistlepig Piggyback rye whiskey bottle ice luge at a event in New Orleans' Bywater

Whistlepig Piggyback Rye double luge

Almost too tall for where it went on the bar, this Whistlepig Piggyback bottle ice luge made for an impressive presence and probably helped crank up the fun meter at this Bywater Tales of the Cocktail event

Death & Co. fleur de lis double luge

Adding together Death & Co. and New Orleans during Tales of the Cocktail, and the logical result of that equation is, of course, a fleur de lis double ice luge at Sylvain in the Quarter! If you came up with any other answer, then you’re wrong; go back and check your work!

an engraveable graffiti wall from pure ice for GH Mumm

graffiti ice wall

did we mention that that cool G.H. Mumm ice wall was also a graffiti wall? Yup, just engrave your name wherever you please! (There were more names later, we just started!)

G.H. Mumm ice wall (again)

in case you didn’t see the other 3 pics of our G.H. Mumm Champagne ice wall, then here’s one more to make sure!

what have you got to luge?

Ok, big surprise: a lot of the Tales of the Cocktail ice sculptures we create are ice luges. Duh. Who’d have thought, since this event is all about libations and the culture around them? But seriously, to get more ideas then, for your TotC event, check out our ice luges!

what about cocktail ice for Tales?

You might notice that none of our sculptures would fit in a glass, unless of course, it was a REALLY big glass! We don’t do much with cocktail ice; we focus more on the big ice picture. (In fact, check out the giant ice frame, with the goofball photobomber, in the gallery above!) We’ve worked closely with cocktail ice purveyors in the past, but sadly our favorite local seems to have disappeared 😱 However, we can connect you with some trusted out of town vendors that can get you the cocktail ice you need for your party!