What is the optimal way to ice a cocktail?

What is the optimal way to ice a cocktail: fewer big cubes or lots of small ones? Hillary Shaw Newport, Shropshire, UK How fast the ice melts is by far the biggest influence on the temperature of your cocktail. It takes 334 joules of energy to melt 1 gram of ice, which is about 80 times the energy to raise 1 g of water by 1°C. There is negligible heat energy available in the surrounding air, whatever the ambient temperature, to warm the cocktail, as the specific heat capacity of air is even less that of water. Therefore, the ambient air temperature is irrelevant, as is your hand size, temperature and the dimensions of the glass. The melt speed of the ice is determined by its surface area. A 2 × 2 × 2 centimetre cube of ice has a surface area of 24 cm2, but the same ice in eight 1 cm cubes has a surface area of 48 cm2. Advertisement So, if you drink the cocktail fast, you want smaller pieces; bigger, if you want a longer-lasting cooling effect. With too large pieces, some ice will still be unmelted when you have finished; too small and it all melts before you have finished. It also dilutes the cocktail a bit if it all melts (some may prefer that). There is a downside – the smaller your ice cubes, the faster they melt and the faster your drink gets watered down So it depends on your taste and speed of drinking. I am hereby volunteering to act as a guinea pig to drink lots of cocktails with different-sized pieces of ice to determine the ideal drinking speed and ice cube size. Ron Dippold San Diego, California, US That depends what you’re looking for – there is a trade-off. If you want to make your plonk as cold as possible as fast as possible, then you want your ice to be as small as you can get it. This means more ice is in contact with the liquid. The ultimate form of that is shaved ice, or ice slurry as in some margaritas, which will make your drink cold instantly. But there is a downside – the smaller your ice cubes, the faster they melt and the faster your drink gets watered down. With something as overwhelmingly sweet and flavourful as most commercial margaritas, that isn’t a problem, perhaps even a blessing. But it is a problem if you are looking to unwind with something fancy that was properly made in the first place. Most spirits will benefit from a drop or two of water. Many aromatic compounds bind tightly to the alcohol, and water cuts those bonds and sets them free so you can smell them. Scottish whisky fans call this “unleashing the serpent”. Similarly, it can precipitate solids out of liqueurs and push them to the surface, again giving you more flavour and nose. You can actually see it if you add a little water to anise liqueurs like Pernod and watch the tiny clouds form in the drink. So, in my opinion, you don’t want to drink most things totally neat (no ice) unless your goal is just getting sloshed as fast as possible. Even good vodka benefits from it! However, you need very little water for this – just the melt from the ice, especially if shaken or stirred, is plenty. Shaking will melt the ice more than stirring, so James Bond preferred his drinks effectively watered down a bit. I don’t think you want a good martini, paper plane or vesper to be watered down much, so use ice that will keep it cool but not melt. And the best way to do that is with large, air-free, spherical ice. A sphere is, by definition, the shape with the most volume for the least possible surface area – less surface area means it melts slower, and it has no sharp corners like cubical ice that will melt faster. As a bonus, many spherical ice-makers are designed to remove as much air from the ice as possible, freezing them from the bottom and pushing the air upwards. This makes them perfectly clear, which looks nice, but it also makes them denser. And without the tiny air pockets, it will melt much more slowly. Of course, while large spherical ice goes well in a tumbler, you won’t get one in a traditional v-shaped martini glass without it looking ridiculous and making it hard to drink. In that case, the most British of drink columnists, Kingsley Amis, suggested filling the glass about a third of the way with water and then sticking it in the freezer. This effectively turns the entire bottom of the glass into an ice cube. He had many opinions, many of which I don’t agree with, but I have to say that does the job. To answer this question – or ask a new one – email [email protected].