6 days ago
Why the Ice in Your Cocktails Matters, Whether Shaken or Stirred
I recently started a new bartending job, and during the hiring interview, the owner asked me what the first thing I look for is when I sit down at a bar. My initial thoughts centered on cleanliness and organization, the types of garnishes and syrups they offer, the equipment they use, and their glassware. But while those are all right answers and important ones, I realized that what I look at first is ice.
There's ice at every bar in the world. It is, inarguably, essential. However, when it comes to decent cocktails, and I would argue even something as basic as a Scotch on the rocks, the type of ice a bar uses matters more than most people know.
'Not all ice is the same, and it's not the same for every drink or for how you mix every drink,' says Camper English, the founder of Alcademics, an in-depth blog on the world of bartending, and author of The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts, in a phone interview.
'But a general sign of better ice is that it's not the same ice that you get out of the ice machine in a hotel.'
Most patrons have encountered this kind of ice at their local dive bar: It's flat or chip-shaped, tends to be watery, and over-dilutes drinks.
'If I go to a place that has chip ice, I'll usually stick to a shot and a beer,' says English. 'Or, if I want just something on the rocks, I'll get the ice on the side so that I can micromanage the dilution and chilling process as much as possible.'
And while what constitutes the best ice can be complicated and overwhelming for the customer, many bartenders recommend two types of machines in particular.
'Some of the best cocktail bars will have a Kold Draft and a Scotsman,' says Ivy Mix, a veteran bartender and Brooklyn bar owner, in a phone interview. 'You can tell you're in a quality place if it has the two types of ice that they make.'
Kold Draft has been the staple of every restaurant I have ever worked at. The ice the machine produces is an almost perfect 1-by-1-by-1¼-inch cube that maintains carbonation, has notable clarity and doesn't dilute the taste of spirits. A Scotsman machine produces the classic nugget-shaped ice often used for fountain sodas, tiki-style cocktails, and mint juleps.
'These two types of machines are all you need, and I say this as someone who buys their ice like everyone else,' says Mix.
However, like most things, ice follows trends. And Mix says that today, bars are often abandoning reliability for a frozen aesthetic that costs more than it's worth.
'People just want clear ice in their drinks that they can see through, and bars are cutting large-format blocks to get it,' says Mix. 'It's charming, but it's also costly.'
Cocktails in New York can run anywhere from $15 to $23, depending on the neighborhood and quality of the bar. Bars often use multiple types and shapes, including shaved, cracked, crushed, cubed and large ice cubes and spheres, both produced in molds. At an establishment that cuts its ice, a single hand-cut piece, like the one Mix describes, can cost between $0.50 and $0.75 each, if not more, significantly driving up the overall price of a cocktail.
'That's more expensive than an ounce of alcohol,' says Mix. 'And you're paying that price for something that is admittedly very pretty, but it's a fad, it's not necessary and it's just going down the drain when you finish.'
'It's a great affectation for special bars that are not high volume, but it's not the most efficient way to make an ice cube,' says English.
But for Shintaro Okuda, chef de cuisine and part-owner of Bar Moga, a 1920s-era Japanese cocktail bar in Manhattan, the hand-cut ice they use isn't just an affectation.
'We use ice called Kuramoto from Kanazawa in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan because it not only provides a high level of consistency and craftsmanship, but also because we both share roots in the 1920s,' says Okuda, in a phone interview.
The term 'moga' refers to the modern Japanese woman of the time, who, thanks to the liberal international cultures of the Roaring Twenties, enjoyed greater freedoms and fun than her forebears, replete with dancing the Charleston and enjoying a drink at the local cocktail bars in places like Tokyo's popular Ginza district. Kuramoto ice emerged in the same era.
'We share a century-old tradition of excellence and a historical parallel that makes using Kuramoto Ice meaningful to me,' says Okuda.
Okuda says that the ice, which is imported directly from Japan via ship, has exceptional purity, clarity and structural integrity thanks to a 48- to 72-hour freezing process that removes 99.97% of impurities and air bubbles, resulting in an ultra-dense product that melts slowly without over-diluting drinks.
'Kuramoto provides a level of consistency and craftsmanship that aligns with our dedication to quality,' says Okuda. 'And even though it costs about $1 per cube, we don't integrate that into our cocktail prices because serving great quality ice is our responsibility to the customers.'
However, regardless of the ice, any good bartender should still manage to produce a halfway-decent cocktail.
'Anyone can go buy any kind of ice,' says Mix. 'But you can tell when a bartender physically knows what they're doing by taking a moment and looking at their technique.'
I always try to ensure that a bartender uses a good amount of ice in a shaking tin or mixing glass, making sure not to over-shake or over-stir, and that their shake has a consistent rhythm. Then, they usually pour the drink over fresh ice.
But good bartenders can also be hard to come by. So, I still recommend checking the ice. And one of the easiest ways to decide if you can trust the person behind your bar is to close your eyes and listen.
'Some bartenders just don't understand that when they don't use the right ice, or enough ice, and they shake too much, what they're doing is just diluting and chilling,' says English.
'So, no matter what ice they may be using, when you hear sloshing instead of clinking, steer clear because that results in watered-down, bad cocktails.'
