A closer look at ice cubes that are currently en vogue— because a drink is only as good as its rocks.
Sure, it sounds funny when Eben Freeman tells us that Angel’s Share was “the first place I started to see ice.” What he means, of course, is that not until recently have the city’s mixologists been giving frozen water the attention it deserves. Twelve years ago, Freeman recalls, Angel’s Share used a hand-cranked grinder to make their crushed ice. When Milk and Honey opened, Sasha Petraske began making larger cubes from vintage trays. His bartenders still famously cut their ice from a large block before each night’s service. Recently, machines previously available only in Europe have brought clearer, colder, larger cubes (perfect for agitating a drink in the shaker and decreasing dilution in the glass), and some mixologists have started freezing everything from orchids to raspberries. Let’s take a look in the freezer, shall we?
my favorite: Orchard Ice, Daniel
Xavier Herit: "I came up with the idea to freeze the orchid flower inside an ice ball. The ice ball keeps the cocktail chilled until the end. The ice is round — roughly the size of a clementine. We use a mold to make it. You can find this mold in the MoMA store, but it’s made in Japan."
check out more ice cube art here.
via NYMag
