All eyes on nice ice: Using the right ice can make a difference to your drinks

There’s more to ice in cocktail-making than just keeping the drinks cold. – Photo: Filepic

Let's talk about ice today. To most of us, ice is just something we use to chill our drinks or keep something cold, but to a bartender, it is an essential ingredient and tool that can make or break a drink.

Just as chefs use fire and heat to come up with their culinary creations, bartenders use ice in many ways to produce their masterpieces. While the primary function of ice is still to chill a drink, a bartender can wield it in different ways.

Besides chilling, bartenders also use ice to mix and to dilute the drinks. Ice is used for chilling glasses, for shaking a drink, for stirring, and even sometimes as an essential part of the drink’s presentation.

But when it comes to making cocktails, not just any ice will do, at least if you’re a professional bartender.

Clear ice blocks not only look great in drinks like the Negroni, but also melt a lot slower than regular cubed ice. – MICHAEL CHEANG/The Star

According to C.K. Kho, founder of acclaimed Kuala Lumpur bars Coley and Pahit, there is a big difference between commercial ice, and ice that is used for cocktail making.

“Most of the ice supplied in KL is mainly tube ice, which is very soft and dilutes very quickly when you are making cocktails,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve seen a demand for good ice, as bartenders are getting more detailed and very particular when it comes to cocktail making.”

But what exactly is “good ice”? Kho defines it as ice that is a) the right size, b) has a high density, and c) made with good quality water.

“Good ice should hold the temperature of the drinks better, and give the bartender more control over the dilution of the cocktail as well. It should also be visually appealing so the finished drink looks better in appearance,” he explained.

But why? Ice is just ice, right? Well, if you’re serious about mixing drinks you should probably learn a bit more about ice. For instance, did you know that there are actually four types of ice that can be used for making drinks? They are cubed, crushed, cracked and block.

Most bartenders would commonly use cubed ice to shake or stir their cocktails, and both techniques also manipulate the ice in different ways that can change the flavour or texture of your drink.

Let’s take that very famous example of James Bond’s “shaken not stirred” vodka martini. When a martini is shaken with the ice inside a cocktail shaker, the mixture is left in the ice longer, and would also contain a lot more of the ice (and water), resulting in a colder, but less flavourful vodka martini compared to one made with the classic way of stirring it with ice cubes before being strained into the martini glass.

(Oh, by the way, if you’re shaking your cocktail, it’s better to strain your drink over a fresh batch of ice in the glass, as pouring it directly from the shaker, ice and all, will only get you an overly diluted drink.)

A caipirinha cocktail with crushed ice (left) and one made with ice cubes. – Photo: Filepic

What you put in your glass, however, is another matter. Many cocktails served with ice usually call for either crushed or cubed ice, but using a large block in your glass instead of a few cubes also makes a huge difference to your drinking experience.

The reason for this is a matter of size, density and surface area. A single ice block has a smaller surface area compared to a few loose pieces of cubed ice, hence reducing the amount of ice that is exposed to air, which means that it would melt slower.

Having a nice, clear block of ice in your drink also looks better than having lots of different sized cubes floating around, plus it also makes sure that it doesn’t dilute too quickly while you are drinking it.

Most bartenders would commonly use cubed ice to shake or stir their cocktails. Photo: Filepic

That’s the reason why many cocktail bars tend to prefer using clear ice blocks when presenting their drinks.

“We have three types of ice at our bar,” says Kho. “Cube ice for storing and shaking purposes, block ice to serve drinks or cocktails on the rocks like the Negroni or Old Fashioned, and ice sticks to serve long drinks or highballs.”

As the consumption of ice increased at Coley and Pahit, they started to invest in better ice-making equipment in order to produce more. That eventually led to a new venture called Isi=Padu Ice Company, which sells clear ice specially crafted for bar or home use.

“We make our ice using high quality filtered water and an ice maker that gives us a super high density and compact ice,” Kho said.

“Right now we only sell two types of ice – blocks and ice balls to serve cocktails or spirits on the rock, and ice sticks and bricks for long drinks.”

If you’re making your own ice at home, how you store it will also make a difference to your ice.

“At home, we tend to store the ice in the freezer with other ingredients like meat, and if the ice is not properly packed, it might absorb the flavour or smell from these other foods, which will affect the flavour of your drinks as well,” says Kho, adding that Isi=Padu vacuum packs each piece of ice individually to avoid this from happening.

Of course, at the end of the day, it all boils down to what you’re really using your ice for. For most of us, just a normal tray of ice cubes in the freezer would probably be sufficient.

But it’s also good to know that there are options out there if you’re looking to elevate your home drinking experience further.

Michael Cheang only has eyes for nice ice. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram (@MyTipsyTurvy).