Technically, Larry Niven named it the "Busted Kneecap", but what does he know?

One of the simplest and most impressive drinks to serve at a science fiction convention was created by Larry Niven, at a Hugo Loser's Party at a Worldcon. He got there late, and, when he got there, the only stuff left, so goes the story, was bourbon and dry ice.

He called the resulting cocktail a "Busted Kneecap." I call it the "Hugo Loser".

My name's better.

It's a surprisingly tasty concoction. He claims that the dry ice freezes out the water in the bourbon, concentrating it. Personally, I suspect that means that someone was watering his booze, because I've never had any water freeze around the dry ice. Still, the thing bubbles and smokes quite impressively, and it chills the bourbon nicely, and -- here's the thing -- carbonates it. Adding frozen carbon dioxide to beverages does fun things.

So the Hugo Loser is basically chilled, bubbly bourbon. It's quite tasty. It is, of course, better the better the whiskey you use is. Up to a point -- really GOOD whiskey is better drunk at room temperature so you can get all the nuances, so it'd be a shame to super-cool it.