Jay D in Jersey
Closed Account
Pour this stuff,
into an empty bottle of this:
and serve to your Scotch snob friends
into an empty bottle of this:and serve to your Scotch snob friends
Found this at Costco today
- Thread starter LMichaels
- Start date
Darryl - swazies
TVWBB Diamond Member
Macallan is nice, you would be doing a terrible thing by tainting that bottle with poor scotch.....I do not recognize that green bottle.
Rick P
TVWBB Pro
Drink faster
My smart-*** comment aside, I agree, especially for whisky with lower ABVs, like most of the scotch that I like. I rarely use ice, except for high-test whiskey,(120+ proof), or in an Old-Fashioned. There are a few higher proof whiskeys that I will only drink with ice, because the ice tames the heat and flavors evolve beautifully as the ice melts.
LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Be glad you don't
Jay D in Jersey
Closed Account
It's just another way to "age" scotch.
JimK
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Wish we could get the Kirkland booze here in Va. I've heard good things about some of the whiskey. You have to go to a state ABC store. I'm only ~20miles from DC and apparently on the weekends the Costco parking lots are full of MD and VA plates.
The large ice cubes are good if you can get the air and minerals out. I've tried a couple different large format ice makers and love this one that I got last year. Virtually crystal clear cubes. And with each batch, I get 4 'throw away' cubes that the kids like to use in their water bottles since they melt slower.
I was in OBX last week and did my share of sipping on bourbon and rye. Also cocktails. This is an old fashioned I made, with one of the 'throw away' cubes. I like Bulleit, but something 95 proof or better is more my speed in a cocktail.
The large ice cubes are good if you can get the air and minerals out. I've tried a couple different large format ice makers and love this one that I got last year. Virtually crystal clear cubes. And with each batch, I get 4 'throw away' cubes that the kids like to use in their water bottles since they melt slower.
I was in OBX last week and did my share of sipping on bourbon and rye. Also cocktails. This is an old fashioned I made, with one of the 'throw away' cubes. I like Bulleit, but something 95 proof or better is more my speed in a cocktail.
Ed P
TVWBB Platinum Member
What are the "throw away" cubes all about? The mold you linked only makes 4 cubes at a time.
My understanding is that the reason ice cubes aren't clear is because the water is frozen from the outside inward, and the air in the water is trapped in the center. I've heard that one of the ways of getting the ice to freeze from the inside out is to put the ice cube tray in an insulated container. I don't often put ice in my whiskey, but I think I would be more inclined to do so if I had a large, clear cube like in your picture.
Ed P
TVWBB Platinum Member
I like a high-proof (ie, higher than 86 proof) whiskey! Is that a 750ml bottle, or the 1.75L?
JimK
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
This puts the tray in an insulated container. But that tray has holes in the bottom connected to a 'lower tray'. The ice on the top (4 cubes) freezes from the top down, forcing air and impurities down through the holes to the lower area, which is also separated into 4. You get 4 cubes down there, but they are cloudy.
Jim C in Denver
TVWBB All-Star
My understanding is that the reason ice cubes aren't clear is because the water is frozen from the outside inward, and the air in the water is trapped in the center. I've heard that one of the ways of getting the ice to freeze from the inside out is to put the ice cube tray in an insulated container. I don't often put ice in my whiskey, but I think I would be more inclined to do so if I had a large, clear cube like in your picture.
I've gone down the 100% clear big ice rabbit hole. Your explanation is correct. You need to have the ice freeze like how a pond freezes -- very slowly, ice forms over the top, ice slowly grows thicker, the slowly thickening ice pushes the air in the water down towards the unfrozen bottom of the pond. A small insulated cooler is how you make it happen in your kitchen freezer, since your 0 degree freezer freezes the water too fast. Instructions are on the internet.
End of the day, the big clear cubes/spheres are mostly for fun and looking cool. Even though I can make perfectly clear spheres and cubes, I settle for easier -- I can make 12 big cube batches that are about 85% clear overnight using a six pack cooler. The 100% clear are hard to make in big batches and can take a few days.
The functional justifications for the big ice are mostly nonsense. Ice can only cool a drink via melting and adding 32F degree ice water into the drink. So by definition, ice always does two things simultaneously -- cools and dilutes. If you limit dilution (which is the common justification for the big ice), then by definition you also limit cooling. And with the big tall cube sitting in two fingers of hooch at the bottom of your lowball glass, much of the big ice is above the surface of the whiskey. The top part of the cube mostly sublimates (goes directly from solid to gas state), so the tall part only chills the air, not your drink. But it looks cool.
Many whiskey buffs advocate adding a bit of water to the hooch to open it and round it out. Especially with high proof spirits. Easiest way to do that is to add a teaspoon or two of water to the glass. If you also like your hooch a little chilled, the best method imo is to add one SMALL (not big) piece of ice to the glass (clear or cloudy ice will do the same thing). You can also chill the glass or put the hooch in the fridge/freezer.
The only place the big ice actually makes functional sense is to KEEP an already chilled drink cold with limited additional dilution. Not to MAKE a drink cold. After I've chilled my Manhattan by stirring with ice, it then makes sense to strain the already chilled cocktail over a fresh big cube to keep it cold. That will stay colder than serving the drink up.
A chilled serving glass is always a good idea. Using fresh ice (big/small, clear/cloudy, whatever) in the serving glass is always a pro move. By the time you've finished shaking your drink, the ice in the shaker is warmed up, melting, and broken up into little pieces. If you serve with that warm/broken ice, the drink will get a lot more dilution. Straining the cold drink over cold fresh ice will maintain chill and limit dilution.
I worked my way through school tending bar (back when 18 was the drinking age). The #1 bartender tip -- use more ice. Use more ice in the shaker. Use more ice in the mixing glass. Use more ice to chill the glass. And then use more fresh ice in the serving glass.
I've gone down the 100% clear big ice rabbit hole. Your explanation is correct. You need to have the ice freeze like how a pond freezes -- very slowly, ice forms over the top, ice slowly grows thicker, the slowly thickening ice pushes the air in the water down towards the unfrozen bottom of the pond. A small insulated cooler is how you make it happen in your kitchen freezer, since your 0 degree freezer freezes the water too fast. Instructions are on the internet.
End of the day, the big clear cubes/spheres are mostly for fun and looking cool. Even though I can make perfectly clear spheres and cubes, I settle for easier -- I can make 12 big cube batches that are about 85% clear overnight using a six pack cooler. The 100% clear are hard to make in big batches and can take a few days.
The functional justifications for the big ice are mostly nonsense. Ice can only cool a drink via melting and adding 32F degree ice water into the drink. So by definition, ice always does two things simultaneously -- cools and dilutes. If you limit dilution (which is the common justification for the big ice), then by definition you also limit cooling. And with the big tall cube sitting in two fingers of hooch at the bottom of your lowball glass, much of the big ice is above the surface of the whiskey. The top part of the cube mostly sublimates (goes directly from solid to gas state), so the tall part only chills the air, not your drink. But it looks cool.
Many whiskey buffs advocate adding a bit of water to the hooch to open it and round it out. Especially with high proof spirits. Easiest way to do that is to add a teaspoon or two of water to the glass. If you also like your hooch a little chilled, the best method imo is to add one SMALL (not big) piece of ice to the glass (clear or cloudy ice will do the same thing). You can also chill the glass or put the hooch in the fridge/freezer.
The only place the big ice actually makes functional sense is to KEEP an already chilled drink cold with limited additional dilution. Not to MAKE a drink cold. After I've chilled my Manhattan by stirring with ice, it then makes sense to strain the already chilled cocktail over a fresh big cube to keep it cold. That will stay colder than serving the drink up.
A chilled serving glass is always a good idea. Using fresh ice (big/small, clear/cloudy, whatever) in the serving glass is always a pro move. By the time you've finished shaking your drink, the ice in the shaker is warmed up, melting, and broken up into little pieces. If you serve with that warm/broken ice, the drink will get a lot more dilution. Straining the cold drink over cold fresh ice will maintain chill and limit dilution.
I worked my way through school tending bar (back when 18 was the drinking age). The #1 bartender tip -- use more ice. Use more ice in the shaker. Use more ice in the mixing glass. Use more ice to chill the glass. And then use more fresh ice in the serving glass.
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We went to Nashville in May - took in a tour of Jack Daniel's. Ol' Jack was a school drop-out, self made man, who built an empire & literally lost it all, by kicking his safe. Fascinating & beautiful place down in the holler; It smelled wonderful! At the end of the tour, they sat us down in a barrel house to do a little tasting.
I've never been a whiskey drinker - I could count one one hand & not use my thumb how many times I've had it. Yea, I'm a wuss. But it was still fun & unique.
Not long after we got home, I picked up a bottle of Gentleman Jack to sip on, develope a taste. Yesterday, I poured myself a Jack & Coke & it was the first time I enjoyed it. Brought back great memories of that day.
Fun fact: the tour guide told us that Jack Daniel's hands out a bottle with the first paycheck of the month to the employees.
Sorry for the high jack
I've never been a whiskey drinker - I could count one one hand & not use my thumb how many times I've had it. Yea, I'm a wuss. But it was still fun & unique.
Not long after we got home, I picked up a bottle of Gentleman Jack to sip on, develope a taste. Yesterday, I poured myself a Jack & Coke & it was the first time I enjoyed it. Brought back great memories of that day.
Fun fact: the tour guide told us that Jack Daniel's hands out a bottle with the first paycheck of the month to the employees.
Sorry for the high jack
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RichPB (richlife)
TVWBB Wizard
My but this thread grew legs! Like several others, I live in a sad state that does not permit independent sale of alcohol -- NC ABC is the only source. So no booze at Costco and much angst reading here.
My real introduction to Scotch came in a bar in Rome with a new Scot friend who had relatives who worked at MacAllen. Part of their wage was a bottle of the product each month. I had ordered a Balveny on ice. The bartender looked at my friend who had a MacAllen neat with a small side of water and asked, "Are you going to let him do that?"
About a year later, IBM sent me to Switzerland. By that time I'd discovered that Islay was not for me. My host showed me around the little village of Nyon, on Lake Geneva, and after dinner invited me to his home (a chalet, of course) for a Scotch. In the dim light he handed me a nice pour raving about how wonderful it was. This was my intro to Laphroigh. After I choked it down, he immediately dumped another in my glass with continuous patter about the marvelous peatiness and how there was nothing else like it. I survived, but have to admit that I didn't become a convert. But with experience and lots of tastings, I'm happy now to say that Lagavulen is far and away my favorite. At our prices, I don't get to indulge much.
My real introduction to Scotch came in a bar in Rome with a new Scot friend who had relatives who worked at MacAllen. Part of their wage was a bottle of the product each month. I had ordered a Balveny on ice. The bartender looked at my friend who had a MacAllen neat with a small side of water and asked, "Are you going to let him do that?"
About a year later, IBM sent me to Switzerland. By that time I'd discovered that Islay was not for me. My host showed me around the little village of Nyon, on Lake Geneva, and after dinner invited me to his home (a chalet, of course) for a Scotch. In the dim light he handed me a nice pour raving about how wonderful it was. This was my intro to Laphroigh. After I choked it down, he immediately dumped another in my glass with continuous patter about the marvelous peatiness and how there was nothing else like it. I survived, but have to admit that I didn't become a convert. But with experience and lots of tastings, I'm happy now to say that Lagavulen is far and away my favorite. At our prices, I don't get to indulge much.
LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Minnesota used to be like that as well. You could not buy alcohol of any type at a supermarket. Had to be a state sanctioned liquor store and of course the prices all reflected that. Whenever we would visit relatives there, a whole lot of our packing space was taken up by alcohol
