ITT: Barware, Cocktail Accessories, Bitters, etc.

The idea is good (there's also stainless steel ones). But I don't see a need to cool my whiskey.

Actually, if I want ice, I want it to melt a bit. I tend to buy cask strength and you actually need a little dilution so the alcohol is not at such a high level that your taste buds get shocked and you cannot taste all the subtleties. This is not to say I haven't kicked around the idea of whisky stones before but I always come to the same conclusion.

I agree that ice is needed if I am drinking my bourbon straight. I doubt these will get a ton of use from me, but I bought them for the cheap on amazon and figured it couldn't hurt to have them around in case they are needed. Perhaps only if a drink has been sitting out for a while and isn't cold anymore.



ChicagoMediaMan said:

Perhaps only if a drink has been sitting out for a while and isn't cold anymore.

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I never have such problems.



ChicagoMediaMan said:

I agree that ice is needed if I am drinking my bourbon straight. I doubt these will get a ton of use from me, but I bought them for the cheap on amazon and figured it couldn't hurt to have them around in case they are needed. Perhaps only if a drink has been sitting out for a while and isn't cold anymore.

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Agreed. If you got them for a good price, why not?

I find some bourbons taste best on the rocks and others are best neat. I like Bullit and Buffalo Trace OTR but Woodford neat. To me, it has a lot to do with the amount of "spice" taste a bourbon has. The more it has the more likely I want it diluted a bit over ice.

They have a very low heat capacity so they don't stay cold all that long. Occasionally useful though. I've used them to re-cool a drink that had ice and got neglected.

So, do the stainless steel ones work better? I don't really know a lot about physics, but I'm quite certain that water retains heat (and therefore coldness) much better than stone or -- especially -- metal. So my idea of the ideal non-diluting cooling device would be something along the lines of a stainless steel "frame" in form of a cube that is filled with distilled water (obviously such that the frozen distilled water fits perfectly in the inner setting). Or probably silver (doesn't it react less to food in general -- ignoring egg and such?).



b1os said:

So, do the stainless steel ones work better? I don't really know a lot about physics, but I'm quite certain that water retains heat (and therefore coldness) much better than stone or -- especially -- metal. So my idea of the ideal non-diluting cooling device would be something along the lines of a stainless steel "frame" in form of a cube that is filled with distilled water (obviously such that the frozen distilled water fits perfectly in the inner setting). Or probably silver (doesn't it react less to food in general -- ignoring egg and such?).

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Quick Googling informs me that soapstone has a significant higher heat capacity than steel, but the density is a lot lower. It's probably a wash in terms of cooling drinks. Silver would be worse than steel I believe. Nothing plausible is going to come close to water (ice), especially since it can melt and remove heat that way as well.

The best for cooling without dilution would probably be something like those reusable ice cubes. Little plastic fruits with water in them I've heard of people using frozen grapes to chill wine.

The stones (or steels) are just more aesthetically pleasing. You can always fish them out and add more if you need more chilling.

Oh, I meant silver as the casing of the cube that's filled with distilled water.

*******, I just smashed the glass of my Carl Mertens boston shaker....
I didn't like all the printed stuff on it, but the quality was very nice.

Just ordered a few tiki things. Four mugs, some orgeat, and some falernum.

Awesome. I always grab a cup when we're in Hawaii (it's been a while, though).

Got some pretty nice old fashioned glasses from Tiffany and Co. for our wedding. Something we'd never buy ourselves but they look nice on display on an old silver platter and the ingredients for a Negroni.

Have you tried or made an Old Fashioned? Very pleasing in a big, clunky tumbler.

I've been mixing them since I was in college. I thought drinking them made me look more sophisticated than my roommates but I just looked like a douchebag. Still love them, though. I stopped probably six or eight months ago so I wouldn't tire of them. When I was 19 I bought (from a discount department store) a set of the heaviest old-fashioned glasses I could find. They were cheap, but still one of my best purchases.

I will admit I have paid them no attention until recently. I'm going to let it rest for a bit, to keep it new and fresh, but I'm taking away something I've been neglecting at home: zests. Right now I'm having a big Wisers and diet Coke with an eye dropper of VTR bitters and huge strip of orange zest. Very satisfying.

Also something I'm thinking of getting are some atomizers. This place I went to Tuesday the bartender was using them to "rinse" glasses then he would also mist the floating ice cubes in finished drinks. Very effective.