Post #747724 by swizzle on Thu, Jul 23, 2015 5:16 PM

On 2015-07-23 15:03, AceExplorer wrote:
But much (maybe not all) of this "nugget ice" is so soft you can easily squish it between your thumb and forefinger. It is made in a way that it is both light and soft, and it is surprisingly porous. I say this based on personal observations; I frequent restaurants where they use that kind of ice in their soda fountains. But I do not prefer it for cocktails at all because it does melt fast, and it waters drinks down much quicker. Ice is primarily a cooling agent before it is a dilution agent, although reasonable dilution does play an important role in cocktails.

I believe the "nugget ice absorbs flavor" is technically correct, and also agree that it is a statement made by marketing people. So I'm not arguing that point. It's just not a big deal in my coke, but the ice does have absorbency. We could test this claim: Fill a cup with nugget ice, pour in a dark drink, then dump the cup in the sink. Do the same with non-nugget ice. I think we may see that the nugget ice retains more of the drink than the non-nugget ice.

So, debating ice cubes, are we? I need a cocktail! :drink:

Maybe what i said i didn't explain correctly. I have no doubt, and agree, that the ice can be made to be porous and by that very nature it is 'retaining' the drink as you put it, but TO ME, retaining the drink in the ice, whilst it is a form of absorbtion, is NOT the same as the ice itself absorbing the flavours of the drink, which is what the marketing term is saying.

And i'm not debating ice with you ACE, i just personally think that a lot of talk about how important ice is, is a load of bollocks. I don't disagree that different shaped ice can and does play different roles in different drinks and the way any or all drinks will change due to the dilution rate, BUT, to the average person at a bar, most wouldn't notice a great deal of difference at all as to what type of ice was used. Yes, the dilution amount is going to affect the flavour, and so will any impurities that might be in the ice (a separate issue which is not what i'm talking and do agree can have an affect on flavour), however, if you put the same drink in front of me in a blind taste test, and i'm pretty confident most people, in ten different glasses with ten different types of ice drinking through a straw without allowing the person to stir the drink to be able to 'feel' what sort of ice is in the glass, the only thing that you might be able to notice is that maybe a few of those out of the ten will taste more diluted than the others. MAYBE, you might be able to notice that one or more are slightly colder than others, but that would be about it.

And that is all just IMO. If i order a drink at a bar, as long as it is balanced and has good flavours that appeal to me, i couldn't care less what sort of ice they use, nor would i ever ask them to make the same drink again for me with a different type/shaped ice because it will make the drink 'better'.

And just for the record, i don't shake my mai tais. I mix it all in the mixing glass and then pour it straight into the drinking glass with the ice i bought pre-bagged from the gas station. So that ice is usually the round stuff with a hole through it and then also the shards and chunks (which come from dropping the bag on the floor to break it up) that i scoop up along with them putting them into the glass. I don't mind the taste being overly strong on the first few sips because by the time i get to the bottom of the glass it has diluted enough, whereas by shaking it first it becomes far too diluted by the end for my liking.