Ice

Today I want to talk about ice. It’s easy to underestimate the importance of ice in a cocktail - it’s only frozen water, right? But that frozen water is more present in cocktails than any other ingredient. Anything you stir, anything you shake, anything you serve over ice, it’s all impacted by the quality of your ice. So what makes good quality ice?
I’ve got a few tips to help you get the best out of your ice at home.

Quantity

One of the biggest myths to do with ice is that less ice equals less dilution. Actually, the opposite is true. When you see your bartender packing your G&T with as much ice as possible, it’s not because he wants to rip you off. It’s because more ice in a glass means the internal temperature of the glass is lower. This in turn means your drink stays colder and your ice melts slower.

So, next time you’re having a G&T in a giant Copa glass outside in the sun, get it full of ice and it’ll stop your drink being a watery mess by the time you’re finished.

Size

When it comes to ice, size does matter. If you look at my drinks you’ll often see me using single, huge blocks of ice in my drinks. The reason for this is that the surface area is reduced, therefore slowing down dilution. This means the drink stays nice and cold, but the ice melts slower throughout your drink. Using lots of smaller ice cubes means the surface area is greater, so dilution is quicker.

If you want big cubes of ice at home, you can buy molds especially for big blocks, or use a Tupperware container full of water and then cut it into the size you need for individual drinks using a serrated knife.

This large ice is perfect for serving your drink over. Your smaller cubes are still perfect for stirring and shaking before serving because in that case you want dilution, which comes with the ice melting as you agitate it.

Clarity

I’m sure a lot of you have seen more and more drinks online and in bars that have blocks of crystal clear ice in them. The reason for this is that ‘cloudy’ ice - the kind that you might get from your own freezer - melts quicker. The cloudiness comes from air that became trapped as the water was freezing.

A crystal clear block of ice will keep your drink cold, while melting incredibly slowly. This again leads to less dilution of your drink. Clear ice is achieved through a process called ‘directional freezing’, which involves using insulation to force the ice to freeze from the top down, pushing the air to the bottom of the container rather than the middle of the cube as with regular ice cube trays and molds. Clear ice CAN’T be achieved by using boiled water, as much as people have claimed otherwise. If you want to know more about directional freezing give it a google - it’s super easy to do at home.

Flavour

Flavour might not sound like a big deal when it comes to frozen water, but when keeping ice in your freezer there is one mistake a lot of people make: keeping it next to open food. This can, over time, mean your ice picks up a bit of flavour from the food. To avoid this, just chuck your ice into a ziplock bag, or if you have the space, give your ice its own drawer.

Wetness?:

Finally, how wet is your ice? This might sound like a weird question, but it is definitely important, especially when shaking or stirring drinks. The ‘wetness’ of your ice is to do with how long it has been out of the freezer, and so, how much it has melted. Wet ice will be smaller from melting, and will add more water to a cocktail. Very cold, dry ice will be harder and melt slower, but will also crack easier. It’s good to take your ice out of the freezer for about 15-20 minutes before you use it. This is called tempering, and it helps the cube to begin melting just a touch on the surface. This also stops the cube from cracking when liquid is poured over it.

With all these tips in mind, you’re now ready to go out an enjoy some cocktails with great quality ice.!