You dropped 50 bucks on a bottle of Grey Goose. You pre-chilled your glasses and you hunted all over town for those Spanish olives. So why, oh master mixologist, does your vodka martini taste like crap?
The answer: It was those three-month-old ice cubes in your filthy freezer. Good bartenders know that the ice is integral to any great cocktail, which is why your stinky white nuggets won’t do.
Here’s how to keep your drinks tasting like they should.
1. Use filtered water. Tap water contains chlorine, hydrogen sulfide and other potentially funky-tasting minerals.
2. Boil it. For crystal-clear cubes, eliminate air bubbles by boiling the water, cooling it, and boiling it again.
3. Keep it fresh. Use ice within a day or two of freezing. Vapour molecules waft around your freezer, which means your ice is absorbing the odour of that liver casserole your Mom made you last Christmas.
4. Size matters. The bigger the cube, the slower it melts, the cooler your drink stays. Thank the French for the Elastomoule, which creates perfect two-inch cubes. For jumbo chunks, avail yourself of the classic Mafioso accessory – an ice pick. Fill a three-inch pan with water, freeze it and hack away.
5. Grow some balls. The slowest melting ice cube is actually a sphere because of its minimal surface area to volume ratio. To test the theory, order yourself a pricey Taisin Ice Ball Mold. Or, if you truly have money to melt, order some Gläce Luxury Ice at US $8 a ball.
Image courtesy of Jeremy ?????????? on Flickr.
