Jelly Shots Are Out; Alcoholic Jelly Cakes Are In

After college, Jell-O shots are often treated like your old MySpace page—which is to say, they’re best left in the past. They’re cheap (currently $1.50 for a 6-ounce package of Jell-O at Dollar General) and their high sugar content helps mask the taste of cheap booze. But their artificial flavor isn’t exactly worthy of a five-star cocktail. Trying to eat Jell-O shots out of a flimsy plastic cup often results in sticky fingers and clumsy attempts to get the gelatin out of your mouth.

Meet the boozy jellybean, a sophisticated evolution of the Jell-O shot with all the same fun, a major upgrade in taste, and none of the mess of plastic cups. Founded in Brooklyn, New York, by pastry chef Jena Derman and master mixologist Jack Schramm, Solid Wiggles has created boozy gelatin treats that look like they belong in an art museum or a glass case at a bakery.

Rather than being served as shots in individual plastic cups, Solid Wiggles creations are made as large cakes, which are then cut into individual shots for serving. The unique format and beautiful aesthetic aren’t the only things that set these jellies apart; they’re also made with higher-quality ingredients. Overall, they’re a major upgrade from your average college Jell-O shot.

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Alcoholic jelly cakes are fancier than jelly shots

Quality comes at a price. In this case, the price is $114.95 for one of the 6-inch Solid Wiggles Jelly Cakes with free shipping in the US via Goldbelly. If that sounds like a steep price, consider that your college Jell-O shots didn’t have Jack Schramm’s touch. With years of experience as a head bartender at top New York City bars Existing Conditions and Booker and Dax, he uses innovative techniques like milk washing and juice clarification to create next-level flavors.

Schramm and Jena Derman carefully select every ingredient in their jelly cakes, including organic fruit purees and small-batch spirits from local New York distilleries, including Supergay Spirits and Faccio Brutto Spirits. The company’s jelly cakes feature something else you’ve probably never seen in your jelly recipes: intricate flower petal patterns and geometric designs. The duo uses syringes to inject milk jelly into the gelatin, creating shapes in each handcrafted jelly cake.

These boozy jellybeans contain 5% alcohol by volume, which is roughly equivalent to the alcohol content of a standard beer. This means that while they have a pleasant taste, they aren’t overpowering, allowing you to enjoy the taste and slight buzz without being overwhelmed by the alcohol.

Other people are inventing new ways to make jelly shots.

Another trend that’s trending in the world of Jell-O shots is making you wonder whether the shot is considered a food or a cocktail. If you peruse the snack menu at Café Mars in Brooklyn, New York, for example, you’ll find Jell-Olives, which look like a googly Halloween eye (actually a Castelvetrano olive) floating inside a blood-red block of Negroni cocktail jelly. In 2023, the fruit basket on the menu at Washington DC’s Silver Lyan became a hit, featuring lemon wedges that looked so real you’d never guess they were Jell-O shots.

Extra makes everything more interesting, and that’s the idea that Oma’s Hideaway in Portland, Oregon, is embracing with its Jell-O shots. The classic way to over-the-top a dish? Add edible glitter and boba. You’ll find both in the restaurant’s tropical-flavored Jell-O shot. If you’re feeling fancy, head to White Limozeen, a rooftop bar in Nashville, Tennessee, for its namesake champagne Jell-O shot. These shots come in brownie-sized pieces and are topped with carbonated crystals for an extra burst of fun and flavor. While the plastic-cup Jell-O shots of our college days are passé, these new, creative and stylish boozy jello shots are definitely in style—all shapes, sizes, and glitters included.

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