In a story about the chewy ice as served in Sonic and at hospitals, the Wall Street Journal interviewed me.
Blog
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Where to Find All the Cool Ice in San Francisco
I was interviewed on unique expressions of ice in San Francisco for Eater.com.
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More Ice Tools Advice from Iruma Shibuya
For this article on Bevvy.co, I interviewed several experts in cutting ice. One of them, Iruma Shibuya, wrote such an epic response that I wanted to post more of it once the article published. So here it is, lightly edited.
Shibuya talks about the types of tools he has used in Japan and makes some recommendations as to the simplest/easiest way to work with and without them.
My name is Iruma Shibuya and I have had the pleasure of working in the industry for the last 8 years. I can be found working at Backbar in Somerville MA, or working catering and educational events for The Cocktail Guru. I was presented with an opportunity to intern at the world acclaimed BAR HIGH FIVE early on in my career, and had the pleasure of interning there for a combined total of 2.5 months between 2016, and 2017.
During my time, I delved into the details and care of hospitality, networking, bar techniques, and most notable for what you are looking for, ice cutting by hand. This experience has lead to me seeking out tools for ice cutting in Tokyo, Osaka, and in my local Boston area. I haven’t had luck in terms of tools that are actually made for ice cutting in Boston, but I have found tools that can achieve the end results with practice and patience.
Clear ice in Japan is purchasable at bars, and the one I worked with was a rectangular block of ice, roughly 30lb that already had a slit cut down the middle, and was already at the perfect thickness for our glassware. Each half would be cut into 15 cubes after a temping period, shaped, and put into rotation once it was fully refrozen.
The main 2 blades we used were the soba noodle knife to do the breakdown cuts, and a chicken boning knife for shaping. During my time in Tokyo, I was introduced to the food and beverage focused shopping district of Tokyo known as かっぱ橋道具街 (Kappabashi Tool Street) by Hidetsugu Ueno-san, Owner of BAR HIGH FIVE. The Soba Knife we used is made of stainless steel instead of iron, and it was not the most expensive or impressive blade. The focus was to find a single sided blade with a straight edge that wasn’t too thick and could weather being wet without rusting. Soba knives essentially worked as a long wedge, and if not careful, a thicker blade has the potential to create bigger initial cracks and loss on edges/corners if careless.The next tool we used to clean up the edges of the cubes we made is a chicken boning knife. For shaping, this boning knife is very helpful because the blade was made to deal with hard materials, unlike the soba knife. Some people I interned with had difficulties using this knife because their hands were a bit bigger than their asian counterparts, but with proper angles, techniques and lots of patience and practice, it didn’t seem to be an issue. The chicken boning knife is also a single sided blade and that helps maintain a clean cut.
In Boston, I used to work with 50lb blocks that were cut from big 300lb Clinebell made ice. These blocks were intimidating to cut in comparison to the perfectly prepped clear ice that was available in Tokyo, so when I was in Osaka where my family resides, I went to another shopping district geared towards restauranteurs called Sennichimae-Doguyasuji. I have purchased a total of 7 ice saws from Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide, and I may have gone through their entire stock of larger ice saws. When I was visiting in January, 2020, they no longer had larger saws, but was able to make saws via custom orders with a 2 month wait time. These ice saws are made to have the tips of each tooth to slightly flare outwards so that as one cuts ice, the ice chips and water gets pulled out of the channel rather than getting caught in the block. This helps speed up the cutting process, and there is less opportunities for the ice chips and water to gunk up and refreeze in the channel around the saw while one cuts ice.
I own two ice saws, the short one is meant for easy transport, and the longer one has enough length to fit two blocks under it. The ice saws are made to have a consistent thickness through the length of the blade, but right as you get to the handle the metal gets thicker. When cutting ice, one needs to keep the ice where the blades are, or risks breaking the block in unwanted ways if the wide handle accidentally wedges apart the blocks prematurely. The longer saw is my preference, as there is more travel distance available for quickly slicing through the blocks.Here is the method I have found to be the easiest way for cutting a 50lb block with time, loss and melting in mind. I take a 50lb block of ice (1/6th of a 300lb block of clinebell ice), and saw out 4 equally sized slabs. I then cut each slab into 4×4 cubes using the soba knife and a mallet, and once all the slabs were cut down to cubes, shape it with the chicken boning knife. After an hour of temping the block of ice to prevent cracks while handling, a standard amount of time I have come to achieve is 30-40 minutes to cut 64 cubes, and an additional 20-30 minutes to shape them after.
While at BAR HIGH FIVE, I was taught that the soba knife doesn’t have to be extremely sharp, on the contrary if it’s too sharp it can lead to chipping the blade on the ice. The most important part of using the soba knife is that you have a wide & consistently straight edge that touches the entire surface of the ice you are trying to cut. When cutting the ice slabs, I am using a wooden mallet to tap on the soba knife to send directional vibrations to cut ice like quarry rocks. I have used rubber mallets with different sizes/weights, plastic, metal, and wooden mallets which I have found the most success with. Metal on metal scares me in terms of damaging my blades, plastic mallets didn’t have enough weight and couldn’t send the vibrations through the blade and ice very well, and rubber mallets are okay depending on which weight you get; I have not worked with a dead-blow mallets, but have found standard 16oz mallets to be the easiest to work with. A simple wooden Cocktail Kingdom mallet however is my preference because it seems to send directional vibration through the blade and into the ice with just the right amount of kinetic energy to cut the ice without creating too much force on the surface, which leads to chipping & breakage.
I have tried using cleavers, however due to the blade being rounded, it doesn’t provide an even distribution of how the vibrations are sent through the blade or ice, and I have found that it leads to uneven breaks and cracks.I have also tried tapping on ice while using the ice saws, but that creates an uneven triangular break due to the jagged and multi pronged edges that are all essentially creating many wedges attacking the ice from many angles, especially with my saws that has the teeth flared outwards.
I have also shaped ice using the soba knives, however I have found that the blade is much softer in comparison to the chicken boning knife and can lead to damaging the straight surface that the soba knife was intentionally sourced for. Sharpening soba knives are considered to be more difficult than regular kitchen blades due to the consistently straight shape it has to maintain, so IMHO I would say in the long run, you would be saving blade’s edge by purchasing an additional knife to shape.
When making ice spheres, I learned to work with a 3 pronged ice pick, then once roughly shaped to use a petty knife to slice away any of the bumpy edges. The petty knife I own is one that Ueno-san of BAR HIGH FIVE had collaborated with Kama Asa, and it is a hardened blade that has been well sharpened but only used for ice.
I personally do not carve ice diamonds because I have not worked at a bar where I would have enough time to make such delicate sculptures for beverages by hand. I find it magical to watch someone like Ueno-san carve a diamond in his hand, but it is much like watching someone make a Ramos Gin Fizz. Just like a Ramos, I’d rather order it at the bar than at a table or booth away from the bar, because you miss the beauty of it being made. Ice diamonds cut to order takes a slight bit of time, and imho lacks purpose when just served without being able to watch the mastery and artistry because the many edges melts faster than a sphere which is comprised of a singular surface.
All of these tools I own helps me cut ice in the most optimal fashion, however these tools are difficult to come by or extremely expensive if not purchased in Japan.If I were to suggest people with limited availability in terms of tools and resources, I would suggest a wooden mallet, 2 inch chisel, and to cut the blocks in a primal manner. Primal as in cutting the block in half, then another half, etc etc until the size of cubes desired are obtained. Shaping and cleaning can also be achieved with the chisel, and most of all, the chisel’s blade is single sided, which helps to get clean cuts.
The fastest method of breaking down a block if there is no care for shaping the edges, I would suggest a 3 pronged pick, and to break the block in a primal manner by methodically creating a line of picked points. At the end of day, I have found cutting ice by hand is a delicate balance of practiced & optimal temperatures, angles, force, and an awareness of time.
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Tools for Breaking Down Ice Blocks
For Bevvy.co, I wrote up Ice Tools for the Bar: Knives, Chisels, Saws, and More.
This story came out of my own curiosity as to which were the best type of tools to use for cutting and carving ice. So I asked a bunch of people who do it on the regular.
Since I wrote it I spend a whole lot of money on new tools, oops!
Read the story to learn of the most surprising – and cheapest- tool of all!
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A Review of The Ice Book – In German
Mixology Magazine is a German publication mostly geared toward bartenders. I contributed to it for a number of years and they were great!
Now they've reviewed The Ice Book.
I read it via the translator on my browser, and it seemed very nice.
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Why are Americans so obsessed with ice?
The Washington Post asks, Why are Americans so obsessed with ice?
When they contacted me about the story, I knew it was going to be about Starbucks. You see, I have a google news alert for "ice" and the news that Starbucks was switching to chewy ice hit last week. People of the internet had Very Strong Thoughts about the issue. So did I:
Camper English, a cocktail and spirits writer, has been thinking seriously about ice for the last 14 years, when he began experimenting with ways to make bigger, clearer versions of it. When Starbucks announced its decision, “I knew that we were going to be victims of an insufferable period of commentary,” he said.
The story is pretty great, you should go read it.
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A Surprisingly Good Knife for Cutting Slabs of Ice
If you're making slabs of ice in a cooler as I showed folks how to do here on Alcademics and in The Ice Book, you need to cut them up into cubes and other shapes after you pop the slab out of your cooler.
Most of the time over the last 10+ years, I've used a cheap Ikea bread knife to score a line and cut the ice, as I show in this post. A lot of times I also just use a 3-prong ice pick instead of a knife.
Years ago, I learned that the prep team at The Slanted Door were using a pumpkin knife to cut up slabs they made in hotel pans. I ordered one from Amazon that was shipped from overseas, and it has been a great knife for this purpose – it has nice big teeth and a flat back, which is ideal for this purpose.
Recently, I went to buy another pumpkin knife but it appears that these are no longer made! Instead, Amazon kept advertising to me a "Kuhn Rikon Melon Knife" by the same brand, but the teeth didn't look to be nearly as big and saw-like, so I hesitated on buying one for a long time.
Long story short, I caved and bought a melon knife a week ago and it's great for cutting ice slabs! It's actually much longer than the pumpkin knife and cuts a slab nicely. So I just wanted to pop on over here to the blog and recommend it.
I bought a cheaper version that's only $12, the Uniware Watermelon Knife. It doesn't come with a blade sheath and the "seeds" are painted on rather than holes in the metal, but otherwise looks similar to the one linked above.
Here's a video comparing the pumpkin and melon knives on YouTube.
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All About EcoSpirits
For AlcoholProfessor.com, I wrote up EcoSpirits, a company with a system for avoiding single-use glass bottles sold to bars. I've been following them for years and am psyched they've set up locations in the US now.
They fill from bulk shipping containers, put them into their custom-made and reusable "ecoTotes" and refill them as needed.
Read all about it at AlcoholProfessor.com. The full text of the post, which first appeared on Alcohol Professor, is below.
A Big Step Toward Sustainable Sipping: ecoSPIRITS
On one end, you have bartenders using paper straws, dehydrated citrus wheel garnishes, and recycled cardboard drink coasters in order to be more sustainable on premise. On the other end, some spirits distillers have been embracing lower-carbon practices such as using solar power, recycling heat, and reducing water use. But in between the distillery and the bar, producers ship fancy heavy designer glass bottles of their spirits all over the world. Those bottles are used a single time and then discarded or put into the recycling bin to be crushed up and reprocessed.
The Problem With Glass Bottles
Having a custom bottle is an important part of marketing for spirits brands, especially when those bottles are sold at retail. But at a busy nightclub where bartenders are slinging hundreds of Vodka Red Bulls every night, most customers never see the bottle, and all those bottles still end up in the bin at the end of the night. In other bars, cocktails are fully or partially batched to speed up service and again, the designer bottles are often not even visible to the customer.
A Solution
In the middle between the spirits producers and the bartenders, one company has found a very specific niche in which to make a big move in sustainability. ecoSPIRITS is a company that evolved out of a bar group in Singapore but has since gone global with a very good idea.
Ecospirits receives spirits in bulk containers at their facilities (ecoPLANTs), fills them into their custom-made reusable totes (ecoTOTES) and then a distributor brings them to on-premise accounts. The distributor also picks up empties for refill back at the Ecoplant. (We’ll write these words with typical capitalization going forward to make it easier on your eyes.) There is no single use glass in the process and none in the bin at the end of the night.
How It Works
The way it works is quite interesting. Spirits are not bottled at their source, let’s say in France for example, but shipped in bulk plastic totes to one of Ecospirits’ Ecoplants, let’s say in Florida. In most countries in which the company operates, the Ecototes are 4.5 liters (6, 750ml bottles’ worth), but due to US legal bottle sizes, they are 1.75-liter totes here. Ecototes are refillable glass bottles (as manufacturers prefer) inside a protective casing that also makes them stackable.
When those totes are empty, they are returned to the distributor and sent back to the Ecoplant to be thoroughly sterilized and refilled. The totes themselves are outfitted with monitors and tracking that helps both traceability, accountability, and with inventory. They also have automatic pour spouts that dispense in specific volumes- such as a few ounces or a 750ml bottle’s worth. They can be kept out of site in the stock room or made into conversation pieces with placement on the back bar.
While a few specific wine and spirits producers have attempted bottle refill initiatives around the US, these all rely on consumers or bars individually returning those bottles to the production facilities for refill or exchange. Thus, these systems are pretty limited in their geographical range, as well as in the range of products that can be refilled into any particular bottle.
Producers Using The System & Producers That Can’t (Yet)
Instead, Ecospirits works with many different brands from ones owned by huge companies like Pernod-Ricard’s Beefeater Gin, Havana Club Rum, and Absolut Vodka to smaller brands like Avallen Calvados, Compass Box Whisky and Roots Marlborough Gin. To be available in a particular market, a brand’s owner must agree to make the product available for distribution in this system and ship their liquid in bulk to the Ecoplant. Ecospirits partners with a local distributor that takes orders and delivers totes to accounts, as well as picks up empties to go back to the plant.
Not every type of spirit is a fit for this system at the moment. Single malt scotch whiskies and 100% agave tequilas, for example, must be bottled in their home countries, so they can’t be shipped in bulk and bottled on foreign ground.
Geographical Limitations
Another complexity is that the refill facilities are best located near shipping ports to receive the bulk liquids. Thus, most distribution of the Ecototes is limited to venues that are within driving range of the coastal refill plants, rather than throughout the entire country. In the United States, the first two Ecoplants are located in Los Angeles (and the distribution region includes all the way to Orange County and San Diego), and Miami. It might be a while before they get to Chicago, but it could happen. Ecospirits has plans to bring additional Ecoplants online in the United States in the second half of 2023.
Obviously, not every single spirit and liqueur from every part of the world is a good fit for this system. Spirits used most often at bars – the “well” spirits – make the most sense as they’re reached for the most often, and don’t sit on the back bar shelves as displays. Just think of how many Aviations you’d have to serve each week to make a 1.75 liter tote of creme de violette worthwhile!
Deconstructing Cocktails
But thinking about specific cocktails and their ingredients is a specialty of the company. For example, the Raffles in Singapore serves up to 1200 Singapore Slings to tourists each day, so Ecospirits worked to ensure that all of the alcoholic ingredients in the drink were available in Ecototes. These include Widges London Dry Gin, Luxardo Sangue Morlacco Cherry Liqueur, and Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao. Ecospirits says that in the first year in 2018, they were able to save tens of thousands of glass bottles just for this one drink at this one bar.
They have their eyes on a few other famous drinks too. Zdenek Kastanek, Managing Director for Ecospirits USA, named the Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista in San Francisco and the Miami Vice at the Fontainebleau Miami as drinks on his future wish list.
Spirits brands available with the system can vary by country, and Ecospirits frequently issues press releases about new brands signing up for their system. Diageo, Pernod-Ricard, and Remy Cointreau brands are available in different markets. For the United States, brands who’ve already signed up include Tried & True Vodka, Los Arcos Destilado de Agave, La Travesia Mezcal, Widges Gin, Mackintosh Whisky, and Candela Rum.
Sustainability initiatives are needed at the bar and at spirits manufacturing plants, and Ecospirits has found an innovative sweet spot to make a further positive impact in between the two.
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Twice the Ice in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Angela Hansberger wrote up The Ice Book and Ice by Amy Brady for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The story is here (paywalled).
I was able to access the text via my public library (did you know you can do that to get through newspaper and even magazine paywalls?) and a few quotes from the story:
English's The Ice Book celebrates, with practicality, the renaissance ice age in which we live. He has researched clear ice since 2009, documenting and sharing his findings with the bar world.
He provides guidance on how to create the clearest cube, the sparkliest sphere and the most dazzling of diamonds by cutting and shaping ice, with a main focus on directional freezing. Experimentation led to the discovery that clearer ice can be produced by encouraging water to freeze in one direction, rather than from the outside in toward the center.
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“The Ultimate Guide to Clear Ice”
InsideHook writes up The Ice Book. The article includes an excerpt as well.
"It’s a wonderful and quick guide for novices and drinks experts alike."
"succinct and beautifully photographed drinks guide"
"This Is the Ultimate Guide to Clear Ice"
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